Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Edge-]

Rep. Doug Collins fires back at head of Senate GOP's campaign arm: 'Fake news'

I am not making this headline up, but I am clarifying which Collins it is.



Congratulations, Republican Party, now the Party of Trump. I hope this is exactly what you hoped you were getting into when you decided to side with a failed TV game show host.

I swear, that Godzilla gif of Ken Watanabe saying, "Let them fight." is getting more use during this administration than it has in the years it existed before.

[Breccia]

I mean...at least he has a point with this one given the ongoing questions around Huawei. But considering what I've read of how they're using the tech it doesn't sound like it would connect with any government communications channels.

Update: Trump is presiding over 'the biggest strategic defeat for the United States since the early days of World War II' as European allies ignore his threats and back Huawei

Before we continue, let's make this clear: we all saw this coming. Trump has been intentionally attacking our relationships with our allies. It was a matter of time before they said "this isn't worth it".

With European allies also closing ranks on Trump's actions against Iran, the president is looking increasingly isolated on the world stage.

Johnson's decision provides cover for other European countries — many of whom are minded to allow Huawei to help build their own 5G networks — to defy Trump themselves.

Politico reported that European countries could copy the UK's new security policies granting Huawei a limited role while restricted it from sensitive sites such as nuclear power stations.

The European Union has drawn up recommendations for member states that stop short of banning Huawei.

Individual countries across the continent are likely to follow the UK's lead and allow Huawei a role in their future 5G networks, despite being on the end of intensive lobbying efforts from the Trump administration.

Germany, Poland, and the Netherlands are leaning toward allowing Huawei a role in future telecoms networks, while the French government confirmed in November that it was "not following the position of the United States" and refused to exclude Huawei from bidding for its 5G network.

"That's embarrassing, but which librul commie traitor called --"

Newt Gingrich, a former speaker of the US House of Representatives, on Wednesday branded the development "the biggest strategic defeat for the United States since the early days of World War II."

"I think people have got to wake up and understand this is a huge failure of our government bureaucracies to respond to a challenge we've seen coming," he told the BBC.

"...oh."

Yeah. Trump decided he wanted to take on China. Trump is losing.

[Paranoid Android]

Pack your petroleum-based gear for your next #BLMAdventure on public lands. #DYK more than 6,000 products, including insect repellent, fishing rods, canoes, and tents, are by-products of crude oil? Learn how minerals improve everyone's quality of life on #Mineral Monday. https://t.co/yoGPyyhxK3

https://twitter.com/BLM_ES/status/12...436756995?s=19

So...yeah. The Bureau of Land Management is now saying 'look ladies and gentlemen and kids; bring your petroleum based products along and look at this beautiful environment and discover minerals'.

Plus, I guess they say oil is a mineral?

[Edge-]

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/0...veaways-108072

Allies of Donald Trump have begun holding events in black communities where organizers lavish praise on the president as they hand out tens of thousands of dollars to lucky attendees.

The first giveaway took place last month in Cleveland, where recipients whose winning tickets were drawn from a bin landed cash gifts in increments of several hundred dollars, stuffed into envelopes. A second giveaway scheduled for this month in Virginia has been postponed, and more are said to be in the works.

So it seems that the "Urban Revitalization Coalition" group have a new strategy to appeal to African American voters.

Just give them envelopes stuffed with cash and hope it buys their vote.

No, this isn't a joke.

Unsurprisingly, as a 501(c)3 charitable organization, there are very real legal issues with just handing out sacks of cash.

Asked about the legality of the giveaways in a brief phone interview, the Urban Revitalization Coalition’s CEO, Darrell Scott, said that most gifts were between $300 and $500, and that the group mandates that anyone who receives over $600 fills out a W-9 form in order to ensure compliance with tax law. He did not respond to follow-up questions about how the giveaways were structured and whether they met the legal standard for a charitable act.

- - - Updated - - -

Donald Trump has some thoughts on John Bolton, a man he personally hired -

https://www.esquire.com/news-politic...stify-twitter/

For a guy who couldn’t get approved for the Ambassador to the U.N. years ago, couldn’t get approved for anything since, “begged” me for a non Senate approved job, which I gave him despite many saying “Don’t do it, sir,” takes the job, mistakenly says “Libyan Model” on T.V., and......many more mistakes of judgement, gets fired because frankly, if I listened to him, we would be in World War Six by now, and goes out and IMMEDIATELY writes a nasty & untrue book. All Classified National Security. Who would do this?

"Don't do it, sir" - we know he made that up, as he makes up every statement when someone supposedly calls him "sir".

"Lybian model on TV" - and Trump can't name a single other specific instance. Why? Because he only pays attention to what's on TV, not what he's briefed on.

"If I listened to him we'd be in World War Six by now" - You fucking hired him, dude. Why does he keep hiring such shitty people?

"Immediate writes an untrue book" - Well...of course he was going to write a book, anyone could have told you that you fucking moron.

"who would do this?" - a longtime insane warhawk that predictably behaved as he has for decades. Maybe Trump should have listened to people advising against hiring him.

Fucking hell Trump and his supporters that believe this absolutely nonsense are dumb as bricks.

Edit: And his verbal malfunctions are seeming to be more frequent. Multiple instances of him trying to say a basic word like "Witch" or "Criminal", completely fucking it up, and then hard-pivoting and moving to another topic because he doesn't make mistakes.

Donald Trump is not well mentally or psychologically.

[Benggaul]

Edit: And his verbal malfunctions are seeming to be more frequent. Multiple instances of him trying to say a basic word like "Witch" or "Criminal", completely fucking it up, and then hard-pivoting and moving to another topic because he doesn't make mistakes.

I linked him trying to say "Criminal" a page or two ago. It was as if his tongue revolted in his mouth and then he had to actually STOP and take stock of what he was saying. Someone on FOX "News" was laughing in the background and they cut away from it quickly. It's fucking nuts.

[Redwyrm]

It's interesting to see "Republicans" reinvent their view of themselves each time Trump either turns on a staunch neo-con like Bolton, or says something completely 180 from any Republican/Conservative standard view. It's like the Republican party and its voters are whatever nonsense Trump spouts on any particular day and they have to twist themselves into pretzels to make it fit. Tomorrow might be completely different, but nobody (at least Republicans) remembers what was said or done yesterday.

[Edge-]

It's interesting to see "Republicans" reinvent their view of themselves each time Trump either turns on a staunch neo-con like Bolton, or says something completely 180 from any Republican/Conservative standard view. It's like the Republican party and its voters are whatever nonsense Trump spouts on any particular day and they have to twist themselves into pretzels to make it fit. Tomorrow might be completely different, but nobody (at least Republicans) remembers what was said or done yesterday.

"Mr. President, will you say anything to get elected?"

"Yes."

"Republican Party, will you support the president no matter what just to get his backing for your elections?"

"Yes."

[Levelfive]

I read this Axios article about what's now more and more sarcastically called "Trump's peace plan". Based on this, now that I'm done shitting on the results, rather than flush and walk away, I should turn around and piss on it.

1) This is just what Netanyahu wanted, which in turn is just what Trump wanted: a reason to begin a military conflict to resist being pulled from power because of all that stuff he did.

2) Axios says Netanyahu, by virtue of being directly told it was okay by Trump, is prepared to go ahead with the West Bank annexations which Palestine has not agreed to as early as Sunday. Regardless of the obvious tragedy of throwing people out of their homes by force, if only one person signs the contract, it's not a contract. It's a wish list.

But what such a green light will do, is give Netanyahu more power amongst the increasingly right-wing Israeli voters, who will see uniformed soldiers hurling unarmed brown people over a Wall and cheer for more.

3) The Palestinians have been given peace plans before in which they kept all of the West Bank, not the currently offered 70%. They rejected all of those. There is zero reason to believe they'll accept this one.

4) Here's the big one: Trump basically ruined everything by the embassy move. That's still not in dispute, just ask the Palestinians. Thing is, that move is reversible. In 20201 President Warren could say "that was stupid, move it back" and thusly it would be so. Annexing West Bank settlements is far harder to undo. Even though the US is now firmly in the category of "countries who unilaterally break treaties and expect everyone else to agree to that", telling Israel in a year "you have to move back out and return those houses you burned and bulldozed" will be met with a firm "no" and probably a middle finger. If annexations go forward as basically everyone says they will, even though (again) Palestine didn't sign that shit, it's pretty much irreversible. Like my raincoat.

It should be noted that Trump has already touted his great success (lol) by saying no other administration came close to this. He's right: no other administration came up with a peace plan that just gave Israel everything, then called it a day. No other administration would have called that a deal. That's like, I dunno, hiring workers for a contractually agreed upon fee, then not paying them.

5) And finally, considering that Israel is probably just going to follow the part of Trump's deal that benefit them whether anyone else signs or not, the end result will be the Palestinians and, likely, an increasingly large number of their Syrian, Iranian, Yemeni and Iraqi friends, engaging in "protests" so vigorous you'll see the smoke and hear the blasts from the EU.

This was never a peace plan. This is going to have the opposite effect. And Trump will give that stupid smile and wave a blank sheet of paper while people die because of his words and actions.

Here's the thing about the embassy move:

"Not long before my trip to Alabama, my mom sent me a book called The Book of Signs: 31 Undeniable Prophesies of the Apocalypse, by Dr. David Jeremiah. “If you want to know what the religious right thinks,” she’d called to say, “read this book.” So I started reading. Jeremiah is pastor of the San Diego megachurch helmed for 25 years by Tim LaHaye, co-author of the Left Behind series, and he is a fervent follower of the End Times theology his predecessor popularized. By referencing symbolism in the Bible and shoehorning historical and current events into a narrative, The Book of Signs “proves” Jesus’ imminent return. It’s the type of book that mostly appeals to people already primed to believe it, but close to half of Americans do. In fact, 41 percent of the country — and 58 percent of white evangelicals — believe that Jesus definitely or probably will return to Earth by 2050. In June 2016, Trump named Jeremiah to his Evangelical Executive Advisory Board. In May 2018, Trump moved the Israeli embassy to Jerusalem, an event that is meant to presage Christ’s return." (Emphasis mine.)

It's a very illuminating article if, like me, you at first laughed out loud when Trump claimed he'd done more for evangelicals than any other president in the history of ever. https://www.rollingstone.com/politic...-trump-915381/

This is how he rules--favors that cost him nothing (you think he gives a ripe flying shit where this, or any, embassy is?) and keep, in this case, the religious right on incandescently hypocritical lock down, and heads-on-humiliation-pikes fear that keeps everyone else in line.

[JohnBrown1917]

Embassy move is just noise, really. It did not fuck up anything and it's merely a statement of a fact on the ground.



Time literally works against them, because two decades down the road their position is weaker, they are divided and they can only dream of getting anything close to what was offered 20 years ago.

Israel will annex what it has to annex already and will deal with outcome just fine. Nobody is going to wait for Palestinians to fix their own shit forever.

yay for supporting finalasing the apartheid state, I suppose?

Palestinians really fucked it up back in the beginning of 2000s when they were given almost everything they wanted on the table and chose to spurn it all.

That is complete bullshit.

- - - Updated - - -

It just looks like Trump tried; Trump's Mideast peace plan skews heavily toward Israel, with few concessions to Palestinians

To be fair, that is just Trump building on what the US has been doing since Isreal was founded. More an US problem than Trump.

[Zaydin]

Hey Trumpkins, question for you: If Trump cares so much about fighting corruption, when is he going to place a hold on aid to Israel until Benjamin Netanyahu resigns as Prime Minister considering he was formally indicted for corruption yesterday?

[JohnBrown1917]

Hey Trumpkins, question for you: If Trump cares so much about fighting corruption, when is he going to place a hold on aid to Israel until Benjamin Netanyahu resigns as Prime Minister considering he was formally indicted for corruption yesterday?

Even he knows that fucking with Isreal in that way will turn the GOP against him.

[Poopymonster]

Hey Trumpkins, question for you: If Trump cares so much about fighting corruption, when is he going to place a hold on aid to Israel until Benjamin Netanyahu resigns as Prime Minister considering he was formally indicted for corruption yesterday?

Because it's Israel, and his cultists think that's where the Jesusing will happen.

[Beefhammer]

Hey Trumpkins, question for you: If Trump cares so much about fighting corruption, when is he going to place a hold on aid to Israel until Benjamin Netanyahu resigns as Prime Minister considering he was formally indicted for corruption yesterday?

Come on. We all know it's only corruption if the Dems do it. Anyone else it doesn't matter. Much like the evangelical hypocrisy, that adulatory is not OK unless a GOP candidate does it.

[JohnBrown1917]

Because it's Israel, and his cultists think that's where the Jesusing will happen.

More than his cult, 3 member of his cabinet(Pompeo, Pence and Barr) believe in it.

[Poopymonster]

Come on. We all know it's only corruption if the Dems do it. Anyone else it doesn't matter. Much like the evangelical hypocrisy, that adulatory is not OK unless a GOP candidate does it.

You overlook how they rationalize the hypocrisy. As long as you say you're sorry, and really mean it. I mean REALLY REALLY SUPER DUPER mean it. It's forgiven.

[Masark]

Because it's Israel, and his cultists think that's where the Jesusing will happen.

Also the anti-christing, which they think they need the third temple for, for which they need Jerusalem.

[Shadowferal]

Portion of newly built wall on Mexico border collapses

[Breccia]

Portion of newly built wall on Mexico border collapses

HAHAHAHAHAHA it was broken by wind HAHAHAHAHAHA 37mph HAHAHAHA and it wasn't even solid it's a fence HAHAHAHAHAHA

So it says here it blew out of its foundation before it dried. How much did that cost, anyhow? Trump's already been doing repairs on Obama's fence for years. Now he's going to repair his own.

[Edge-]

Portion of newly built wall on Mexico border collapses

Man, I guess their "THE WALL" couldn't even stand up to the big bad wolf.

There's some meta-commentary here but I don't have the time to make it.

Also, here's the CNN report with images of the wall being propped up by trees - https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/29/polit...nds/index.html

[Paranoid Android]

[QUOTE]Nancy Pelosi wants Congress to take away authority Presidents use to stand up to other countries and defend AMERICANS. Stand with your Commander in Chiefs![/QUOTE]

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/...080863745?s=19

Well I guess he rooting for the Kansas City Chiefs for the Super Bowl.