Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[omerome]

Marsha Blackburn (R) Senator from Tennessee tweeted



implying a decorated veteran of the US military is a spy for a foreign goverment.

Can this senator be brought up on witness intimidation charges?

[nonameelf]

Marsha Blackburn (R) Senator from Tennessee tweeted



implying a decorated veteran of the US military is a spy for a foreign goverment.

And now she's trending on Twitter, not in a good way. Just like Graham is trending on twitter. Oh, and Elise Stefanik, also trending in a not good way. Bolton too. And of course Trump.

Big day for Republicans, a lot of them are trending! And Republicans say Twitter blocks them from trending.

[Shadowferal]

And now she's trending on Twitter, not in a good way. Just like Graham is trending on twitter.

#MoscowMarsha Trends After GOP Senator Blackburn Accuses Alexander 'Vindictive Vindman' Of Being Whistleblower's Handler

"Hey, #moscowmartha, stop spreading Kremlin talking points. Treason is not a good look on you," one user wrote.

"Attacking decorated nonpartisan diplomats who put their lives and careers on the line to point it out is something else entirely," said another.

Others didn't pick up on the hashtag but nonetheless thought Blackburn's insinuation was unfounded.

"This is a disgraceful smear against a serving U.S. military officer and combat veteran from a United States Senator. Just another day in Trump's Republican Party," wrote Tom Nichols, a professor at the U.S. Naval War College.

"The Trumpfication of the GOP has been completed," added another user.

"This is the thanks you get from a U.S. Senator when you receive a Purple Heart?" another wrote.

[nonameelf]

Oh, and apparently the #MoscowMarsha and #ByeByeElise trends mean Democrats hate women. I love conservative twitter.

[omerome]

And now she's trending on Twitter, not in a good way. Just like Graham is trending on twitter. Oh, and Elise Stefanik, also trending in a not good way. Bolton too. And of course Trump.

Big day for Republicans, a lot of them are trending! And Republicans say Twitter blocks them from trending.

Found this and just had to share.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1198029527848349696

[Skroe]

Marsha Blackburn (R) Senator from Tennessee tweeted



implying a decorated veteran of the US military is a spy for a foreign goverment.

I wish I could say this tweet made Marsha Blackburn an objectively bad person, but most of us knew that years ago.

[Shadowferal]

They know that their party is fucked if they allow it to be proven that russian money was used to win elections.

[Levelfive]

Apologies if this was already posted, but I found it somewhat heartening, mostly because I consider Barr to be particularly and unforgivably blameworthy in all of this:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/22/u...gtype=Homepage

Barr’s Legal Views Come Under Fire From Conservative-Leaning Lawyers

A speech by Mr. Barr last week, in which he argued that Mr. Trump had never overstepped his authority, so alarmed a group of lawyers that they felt compelled to push back publicly.

By Katie Benner

Nov. 22, 2019, 5:12 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON — A group of conservative-leaning lawyers criticized Attorney General William P. Barr for the expansive view of presidential power he espoused in a recent speech and for his conclusion this spring that President Trump had not obstructed justice in the Russia investigation.

“In recent months, we have become concerned by the conduct of Attorney General William Barr,” the group, Checks & Balances, said in a statement that was shared Friday with The New York Times.

Members of the group have sharply denounced what they described as abuses of power by Mr. Trump, who is facing a fast-moving impeachment inquiry. The speech by Mr. Barr last week, in which he argued that the president had never overstepped his authority, so alarmed them that they felt compelled to push back publicly.

The Justice Department declined to comment.

At a conference hosted by the Federalist Society, an influential conservative legal group, Mr. Barr said in his speech that those who have sought to hem in Mr. Trump were denying the will of voters, subverting the Constitution and undermining the rule of law.

The president’s opponents “essentially see themselves as engaged in a war to cripple by any means necessary a duly elected government,” he said.

Checks & Balances is made up of Republican and conservative lawyers, including some who served in recent administrations. George T. Conway III, one of Mr. Trump’s most vocal critics and the husband of the White House counselor, Kellyanne Conway, is one of the group’s most prominent members.

Mr. Barr’s view on executive power is a misreading of the unitary executive theory, said Charles Fried, a Checks & Balances member and Harvard Law professor who endorsed the theory while he was solicitor general during the Reagan administration. In Mr. Fried’s reading of the theory, “the executive branch cannot be broken up into fragments.”

While that branch acts as a unified expression of a president’s priorities, with the president firmly at the helm, “it is also clear that the executive branch is subject to law,” Mr. Fried said. “Barr takes that notion and eliminates the ‘under law’ part.”

While Mr. Barr did not use the word “impeachment” in his speech, he laid out a new defense of Mr. Trump that was taken up by Republicans on Capitol Hill. In an effort to invalidate the inquiry, lawmakers had argued that the president did not withhold a White House meeting or military aid to pressure President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine to publicly announce investigations that would benefit Mr. Trump politically.

After a week of damaging public hearings in which multiple witnesses offered new details of the president’s pressure campaign and said that he spoke openly of his desire that Ukraine publicly announce investigations, Mr. Trump’s supporters began to argue that he had acted within his rights.

Mr. Trump has also begun to echo Mr. Barr’s assertions. In an interview on Fox on Friday, he said that the decision to investigate his 2016 campaign’s ties to Russia “was an overthrow attempt at the presidency.”

Now that the claim that Mr. Trump never pressured Mr. Zelensky no longer holds, “the argument has got to be a ‘so what’ argument — Bill Barr’s argument that the president did all these things, but this is what a president can do,” said Stuart Gerson, a Checks & Balances member who was a senior campaign adviser to George Bush and a Justice Department official in his administration.

“The Republicans in the Senate and in the House think they’re in a Parliament, and their responsibility is to a prime minister to whom they owe party loyalty,” Mr. Gerson said. “That’s not the American tradition. One can recognize substantial executive power, but that doesn’t mean the legislative branch should be dead.”

Mr. Barr has argued that his view of presidential power stems directly from the Constitution. It delineates the responsibilities of the three branches of government, he has said, rather than allowing the legislature and the judiciary to check the powers of the president as two of three co-equal governing powers.

That interpretation of history “has no factual basis,” Checks & Balances wrote in its statement, including the claim that “the founders shared in any respect his vision of an unchecked president, and his assertion that this view was dominant until it came under attack from courts and Congress a few decades ago.”

The group said that the “only imaginable basis” for Mr. Barr’s conclusion that Mr. Trump did not obstruct the Russia investigation “was his legal view that the president is given total control over all investigations by the Constitution.”

Mr. Fried suggested that Mr. Barr’s interpretation of the law set a dangerous precedent. “Conservatism is respect for the rule of law. It is respect for tradition,” he said. “The people who claim they’re conservatives today are demanding loyalty to this completely lawless, ignorant, foul-mouthed president.”

Mr. Gerson echoed that sentiment. “It’s important for conservatives to speak up,” he said. “This administration is anything but conservative.”

[Breccia]

#ByeByeElise

Rep. Stefanik is a spoiled rich brat who has switched from posting "today I voted yes on a bill that 416 other people voted yes on, aren't I sweet?" every day, to "negative derogatory nickname about my opponent WITCH HUNT!" once a month and pearl clutching "oh golly gosh, I wish Trump wouldn't do those things you don't like, but lucky for me I didn't have to vote 'yes' on them so you don't know I agree".

She's a sickophant, no I spelled that exactly how I meant to, and she's doing so because she wants to be popular with the rednecks. It's working.

- - - Updated - - -

Take a CNN link however you want, but it's that or the NYTimes paywall.

Anyhow:

The Department of Justice Inspector General's report on the start of FBI's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election will say the probe was properly launched but lower-level employees made a series of mistakes, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

The investigation on the effort to obtain warrants under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act on Carter Page, a former foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign, is expected to conclude that the FBI's Crossfire Hurricane investigation was properly predicated, and that there were a series of mistakes and improper handling of the Page FISA application by lower-level employees.

The New York Times was first to report on the expected conclusion of the report.

The report is also expected to conclude that Page was appropriately targeted for surveillance and that the FBI appropriately disassociated itself from Christopher Steele, the former British spy and author of the infamous "Steele Dossier" about President Donald Trump, after leaks and contacts with the media were uncovered.

Obviously, this isn't official. Barr said something about the 9th for...some reason, if he knows the results he should just disclose them now. But if this is true, GET REKT TRUMP, YOU GOT NOTHING.

[Adam Jensen]

You forgot the mass purchases of DJTJ's book to push it up the sales charts and line his pockets.

Which is straight out of Archer VICE, when Cherlene goes platinum only because a dictator buys a billion copies of her album.

- - - Updated - - -

Marsha Blackburn (R) Senator from Tennessee tweeted



implying a decorated veteran of the US military is a spy for a foreign goverment.

I saw that and shook my head.

Are they all kindergartners? Is the GOP really reduced to name calling and childish nicknames? The fuck happened to the Party of Lincoln? Poor Abe would be livid if he saw what it has become.

- - - Updated - - -

In case anyone was confused why the Army and local law enforcement were coordinating on protection for Vindman and his family: Shit like this.

After seeing some clips of Vindman during the hearing one of the thoughts to cross my mind was "he's gonna be murdered."

[PACOX]

I saw that and shook my head.

Are they all kindergartners? Is the GOP really reduced to name calling and childish nicknames? The fuck happened to the Party of Lincoln? Poor Abe would be livid if he saw what it has become.

I'm waiting for someone to come up with a way to combat this absurdity because its completely illogical, so its that much hard to defeat. It doesn't matter how nuts they should because their base loves nonsensical bullshit like this, so the politicians keep getting voted in. A Gym Jordan doesn't have to worry about making a fool of himself in front of those of us who live in reality as long as people in his 'fairly drawn district' eat his nonsense up.

[Redwyrm]

Are they all kindergartners? Is the GOP really reduced to name calling and childish nicknames? The fuck happened to the Party of Lincoln? Poor Abe would be livid if he saw what it has become.

The level of idiocy in the GOP has reached epic proportions. Everyone from Jim Jordan, Steve King and Louie Gohmert. It's a race to see who can say the stupidest things with a straight face and not be called on it.

And we thought Michelle Bachman was the bottom of the barrell

[Mormolyce]

I look forward to all these assholes pushing an "expansive view of Presidential power" immediately 180 to shrieking that every Executive Order is tyranny and invading bird sanctuaries when the next Democrat is sworn in.

[D Luniz]

I'm waiting for someone to come up with a way to combat this absurdity because its completely illogical, so its that much hard to defeat. It doesn't matter how nuts they should because their base loves nonsensical bullshit like this, so the politicians keep getting voted in. A Gym Jordan doesn't have to worry about making a fool of himself in front of those of us who live in reality as long as people in his 'fairly drawn district' eat his nonsense up.

independently drawn districts would go a long way to solve it

[Huehuecoyotl]

independently drawn districts would go a long way to solve it

Not just drawn, but regularly evaluated as well. After each election (at every level) look at the share of votes and the representatives that are elected as a result. If you see a disparity, ensure there is a legal requirement to correct the boundaries before the next election. A clear objective set of rules that can't be accused of being partisan.

[Fugus]

Not just drawn, but regularly evaluated as well. After each election (at every level) look at the share of votes and the representatives that are elected as a result. If you see a disparity, ensure there is a legal requirement to correct the boundaries before the next election. A clear objective set of rules that can't be accused of being partisan.

Just do this.

Have an open source program draw districts based on census data, both the program source code and the census data are to be released to the public a least 12 full months before the process starts. When the program is about to be run. A seed number is drawn "Lottery Style" in public and streamed. All states are forced to use that single seed number.

The program and data are out to be audited and looked at with a fine tooth comb for the entire world to see well in advance and the end results can be verified by anyone as the program, the data, and the seed number are all in the public domain.

This removes the entire politics from the process and even the human equation from it and puts it all on the data and the programming community of the world being able to look at it to see if they have any flaws that would allow it to be exploited.

The biggest problem would be verifying the Census wasn't screwed with and adequately funded which the GOP have been attacking the past few years as well.


Bonus: Pass a law that states that should any party get the majority of the popular vote within a states contested districts, they must also get a majority of those contested districts which takes much of the bite from gerrymandering away. If a state has to reassign districts from one party to another to meet that goal, the districts with the closest margins are chosen to full fill that task.

[Paranoid Android]

“The secretary of the Navy and the admiral who leads the SEALs have threatened to resign or be fired if plans to expel a commando from the elite unit in a war crimes case are halted by President Trump, administration officials said Saturday.” https://t.co/b0ogA8JHVA

https://twitter.com/maggieNYT/status...455593985?s=19

Trump is so inept, such a moron, the top Navy leadership has to threaten to resign if our Idiot in Chief stops interfering.

Oh btw, the Navy is proceeding with disciplinary plans against Gallagher. Basically daring Trump to stop them.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/23/u...gallagher.html

[Ripster42]

For a moment I thought you were talking about Steven King.

Different spellings.

- - - Updated - - -

Can this senator be brought up on witness intimidation charges?

Not with barr as the AG.

[StarDog]

https://twitter.com/maggieNYT/status...455593985?s=19

Trump is so inept, such a moron, the top Navy leadership has to threaten to resign if our Idiot in Chief stops interfering.

Oh btw, the Navy is proceeding with disciplinary plans against Gallagher. Basically daring Trump to stop them.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/23/u...gallagher.html

One of the more interesting comments in that thread is comparing King Cheeto to the Nazi war machine during WWII. Aside from the real reason the Nazis lost the 2nd world war (resource management), another widely held assessment is that Hitler opened up too many fronts. Russia, Africa, Western Europe. So on and so forth. They fought too many wars against too many people and it broke them apart.

And so we turn to Donald Trump's 2019. He has made enemies of the following:
-Manufacturers (tariffs)
-Farmers (tariffs again)
-The Foreign Service ("domestic political errands")
-The Public Writ Large (impeachment)

And now he is firmly adding:
-The military (attacks on LTC Vindman & overruling The Navy)

It's a lot of political fronts to be fighting on.

To quote the Bard, "It's a bold strategy, Cotton. Let's see if it works out for him."

[Redwyrm]

-The military (attacks on LTC Vindman & overruling The Navy)

Unfortunately his fighting with the military top brass (and including the CIA and FBI in this) doesn't translate into the rank and file military and law enforcement turning against hin en masse as you would expect