Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Dontrike]

How so? What guarantees do you have that within the next few decades you will not manage to elect a bigger train wreck than Trump?

If we get something like that it won't be soon, at least that's the hope.

[akris15]

How so? What guarantees do you have that within the next few decades you will not manage to elect a bigger train wreck than Trump?

I feel like Trump is going to act like a vaccine for the foreseeable future. I mean the general public dislikes him and a large part of his "base" that elected him is literally not long for this world due to the general life expectancy of Americans. I think the bigger issue after Trump is cracking down on all these ethic issues that Trump has exposed. I fully expect to see a large presidential reform, no doubt maybe a 28th Amendment, and I have a feeling the era of "strong" presidents will be over and power is pushed back towards congress.

[Vankrys]

so i guess a condo in DC cost only $50 a day, good to know for planning my next vacation.

[Breccia]

so i guess a condo in DC cost only $50 a day, good to know for planning my next vacation.

Just as long as you pass a regulation your landlord asks you for. Remember, if your secretary says it's not a conflict of interest, it's somehow not a conflict of interest!

[Paranoid Android]

Scott Pruitt approached the White House last month requesting substantial pay raises for two close aides.

The W.H. said no, so Pruitt used an obscure provision in the Safe Drinking Water Act to go around the W.H. and give the aides raises anyway. https://t.co/qDWZjd2WxI

https://www.theatlantic.com/amp/arti...mpression=true

This guy is amazing. I hate to look at his past in Oklahoma if he was this brazen now. Yes, he was a fossil fuel employee as Oklahoma Attorney General.

[Breccia]

Yes, he was a fossil fuel employee as Oklahoma Attorney General.

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/07/u...s-general.html

The letter to the Environmental Protection Agency from Attorney General Scott Pruitt of Oklahoma carried a blunt accusation: Federal regulators were grossly overestimating the amount of air pollution caused by energy companies drilling new natural gas wells in his state.

But Mr. Pruitt left out one critical point. The three-page letter was written by lawyers for Devon Energy, one of Oklahoma’s biggest oil and gas companies, and was delivered to him by Devon’s chief of lobbying.

“Outstanding!” William F. Whitsitt, who at the time directed government relations at the company, said in a note to Mr. Pruitt’s office. The attorney general’s staff had taken Devon’s draft, copied it onto state government stationery with only a few word changes, and sent it to Washington with the attorney general’s signature. “The timing of the letter is great, given our meeting this Friday with both E.P.A. and the White House.”

Mr. Whitsitt then added, “Please pass along Devon’s thanks to Attorney General Pruitt.”

The email exchange from October 2011, obtained through an open-records request, offers a hint of the unprecedented, secretive alliance that Mr. Pruitt and other Republican attorneys general have formed with some of the nation’s top energy producers to push back against the Obama regulatory agenda, an investigation by The New York Times has found.

The title of the article is Energy Firms in Secretive Alliance With Attorneys General and Pruitt is the #1 example they led off with.

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No big surprise, Trump is backing Pruitt all the way. Remember, he needs Pruitt to stick around, so he can be shifted to the AG spot when Sessions is finally bullied into resigning.

[Kiri]

I mean he always back them all the way until he fires them.

He backs them even then, helping them leave~

[Breccia]

I mean he always back them all the way until he fires them.

It could be that Kelly is "bad cop", I suppose. Regardless, firing Pruitt would be a big mistake for Trump, if he has any intention at all of replacing Sessions with him.

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Yep, that's Trump ready to deploy the military to the southern border right there.

"Surely he means more border sec--"

Noooooooope.

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ABC News bitchslaps Trump by fact-checking one of his tweets, also known as "shooting fish in a barrel".

Trump claimed 39% of his nominations, "including Diplomats to foreign lands", were being held up by Democrats.

First of all, are there diplomats to non-foreign lands? Is there a U.S. Ambassador to San Fransisco?

Second of all, it's 24%. Trump wasn't even close.

Third of all, this.

There are also 37 posts with no nominee at all. Combined with the vacancies where a Trump nominee is awaiting confirmation, that means that 77 percent of current vacancies are empty because there's no nominee.

Of the 48 vacant posts in total, Trump has put forward 11 names still awaiting confirmation. His other six nominees awaiting confirmation will replace a career ambassador already in the role if they're confirmed.

Of the nominees awaiting confirmation, there are some controversial choices, including Doug Manchester, a businessman with allegations of sexual harassment, and Robin Bernstein, a Mar-a-Lago founding member who the White House bragged has "basic Spanish."

HAHAHAHAHA "basic Spanish" HAHAHAHAHAHA

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Trump re-re-confirms that he is ceding Syria to Putin.

[Shadowferal]

How so? What guarantees do you have that within the next few decades you will not manage to elect a bigger train wreck than Trump?

I have to admit every time I think politicians can't go any lower they grab a shovel...I mean I thought GWB was bad. He's shines up so much better today than he ever did.

[cubby]

I have to admit every time I think politicians can't go any lower they grab a shovel...I mean I thought GWB was bad. He's shines up so much better today than he ever did.

Did you see GWB quoted a few month's ago almost literally saying "I don't look so bad now"? Hysterical.

I seriously doubt we'll ever see anyone as horrifically awful as Trump - he's done just about every illegal thing you can do and still be backed by your own party, it's almost breathtaking in it's categorical collections.

I still enjoy the Cheeto Hand-Wavers though - or the Whataboutists. Both are adorably entertaining.

[cubby]

Oh this is not about me hand waving, this is about me having no trust whatsoever in politics as they are right now. It CAN get worse. It very much might.

My apologies - I wasn't saying you were a hand-waver, I was just adding to your statement with my own thoughts.

Even though politicians (why aren't we using the Arthur C. Clarke method of randomly selecting people to serve instead of elections?) seem to stoop to new lows, I very much doubt we'll ever see the likes of Trump again - someone who has single-handedly stooped to almost every new low.

I mean - is there anyone in the history of the White House occupation that has done even one thing worse than the plethora of travesties Cheeto has wrought upon us?

[Antiganon]

I mean - is there anyone in the history of the White House occupation that has done even one thing worse than the plethora of travesties Cheeto has wrought upon us?

Not only that - he has done (at the very least) an analog of every bad thing done by every president going all the way back to Nixon.

Watergate - Trump Tower.
Nixon's pardon - Arpaio's pardon.
Reaganomics - Trumponomics.
"Read my lips: no new taxes" - GOP tax scam
Whitewater - Various casino scams (also note that the Whitewater investigation found the Clintons innocent of any wrongdoing, excepting unpaid taxes that Hillary wasn't aware she owed, which she paid back, with interest, without being asked to by the IRS)
Monica Lewinsky - Stormy Daniels
"Don't ask don't tell" - transgender ban
Hurricane Katrina - Hurricane Maria
Obama-era governing via executive orders - Trump executive orders
Obama vacations - Trump vacations

It's like he is actively trying to be the worst president possible.

"But what about Jimmy Carter!"

Iran-Contra hostage crisis - Melania Trump hostage crisis

[Jastall]

The key thing is, Trump is deplorable but he is also incompetent. Someone equally deplorable but charismatic and intelligent could actually destroy the US if this level of partisanship continues. Trump can just distract it for the few years he is in office.

I think that's my fear too. I'm not afraid of Trump, he's obviously a total buffoon and far too inept with his power to do much harm to the United States (at least so far).

I am concerned about the apparent fragility of the country's democratic traditions and institutions, however, when said buffoon can run roughshod over them on his ego trip and not suffer much consequences, again so far at least.

[Skroe]

The key thing is, Trump is deplorable but he is also incompetent. Someone equally deplorable but charismatic and intelligent could actually destroy the US if this level of partisanship continues. Trump can just distract it for the few years he is in office.

It shows how badly we've let our system rot.

We need like four new Constitutional Amendments, and a whole slew of new laws.

And Mitch McConnell and Nancy Pelosi have got to go.

[Skroe]

I understand that Pelosi is exceptional at fund raising but you can do that from the back as well. From everything I read here and in the news, the Democratic party needs to bring younger blood to the front and that should include replacing Pelosi when/if they reclaim the House.
In management one of the greatest issues in enterprise is succession. A company has indefinite life so a true manager must among all other tasks be training capable replacements. I'd like to see that. If anything at least in Europe there is clear evidence that voters respond to younger leaders.

Nancy Pelosi raises an enormous amount of money for dozens of small-time Congressmen and Women which would have a hard time without her. They owe her their jobs. That's the problem.

Pelosi isn't too keen on going after Trump for his crimes at this stage. Why? Because he's a tremendous asset to raising money.

She's truly lost her soul in this.

[Zan15]

Good, one person he can't fire.

Well lets not go too far......

technically it will take years but......

The nine presidentially appointed Governors choose the Postmaster General, who also serves as a member of the Board. These ten then choose a Deputy Postmaster General, who becomes the 11th member of the Board. all subject to confirmation by the Senate


Terms of the ten Governors are staggered to expire each year on December 8.

No more than five of the nine Governors may be of the same political party

In October 2017 President Donald Trump announced his intention to nominate three individuals to the Board, the first such nominations since 2010




i think i finally figured out how trump came up with the $$$ losing on amazon.

He took their money owed to pension that the USPS refused to pay over the last 10 years because they would be come insolvent to fund 75 years of pension/healthcare + the new money owed every year

all this added to their normal expenses

then he comes up with something like a 75 billion dollar loss for the year


so technically EVERY package that is delivered is losing about 5-10 dollars each

:P

[Edge-]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...=.d20522bf0a6e

Mueller told Trump’s attorneys the president remains under investigation but is not currently a criminal target

Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III informed President Trump’s attorneys last month that he is continuing to investigate the president but does not consider him a criminal target at this point, according to three people familiar with the discussions.

In private negotiations in early March about a possible presidential interview, Mueller described Trump as a subject of his investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. Prosecutors view someone as a subject when that person has engaged in conduct that is under investigation but there is not sufficient evidence to bring charges.

The special counsel also told Trump’s lawyers that he is preparing a report about the president’s actions while in office and potential obstruction of justice, according to two people with knowledge of the conversations.

Mueller reiterated the need to interview Trump — both to understand whether he had any corrupt intent to thwart the Russia investigation and to complete this portion of his probe, the people said.


Mueller’s description of the president’s status has sparked friction within Trump’s inner circle as his advisers have debated his legal standing. The president and some of his allies seized on the special counsel’s words as an assurance that Trump’s risk of criminal jeopardy is low. Other advisers, however, noted that subjects of investigations can easily become indicted targets — and expressed concern that the special prosecutor was baiting Trump into an interview that could put the president in greater legal peril.

John Dowd, Trump’s top attorney dealing with the Mueller probe, resigned last month amid disputes about strategy and frustration that the president ignored his advice to refuse the special counsel’s request for an interview, according to a Trump friend.

Trump’s chief counsel, Jay Sekulow, and Dowd declined to comment for this report. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders referred questions to White House attorney Ty Cobb.

“Thank you, but I don’t discuss communications with the president or with the Office of Special Counsel,” Cobb said Tuesday.

Peter Carr, a spokesman for the special counsel’s office, declined to comment.

The wide-ranging special counsel investigation, which began as an examination of Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, has expanded into other areas, including whether Trump sought to obstruct the Russian probe.

Mueller’s investigators have indicated to the president’s legal team that they are considering writing reports on their findings in stages — with the first report focused on the obstruction issue, according to two people briefed on the discussions.

Under special counsel regulations, Mueller is required to report his conclusions confidentially to Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, who has the authority to decide whether to release the information publicly.

“They’ve said they want to write a report on this — to answer the public’s questions — and they need the president’s interview as the last step,” one person familiar with the discussions said of Mueller’s team.

Trump’s attorneys expect the president would also face questions about what he knew about any contacts by his associates with Russians officials and emissaries in 2016, several White House advisers said. The president’s allies believe a second report detailing the special counsel’s findings on Russia’s interference would be issued later.

The president has privately expressed relief at the description of his legal status, which has increased his determination to agree to a special counsel interview, the people said. He has repeatedly told allies that he is not a target of the probe and believes an interview will help him put the matter behind him, friends said.

However, legal experts said Mueller’s description of Trump as a subject of a grand jury probe does not mean he is in the clear.

Under Justice Department guidelines, a subject of an investigation is a person whose conduct falls within the scope of a grand jury’s investigation. A target is a person for which there is substantial evidence linking him or her to a crime.

A subject could become a target with his or her own testimony, legal experts warn.

“If I were the president, I would be very reluctant to think I’m off the hook,” said Keith Whittington, a professor of politics at Princeton University and impeachment expert.

“My sense of it is the president — given that information — ought to have pretty fair warning anything he’s saying in the deposition would be legally consequential. Depending on what he says, it could wind up changing how the special counsel is thinking about him.”

Still, several legal scholars and impeachment experts believe Mueller may conclude he does not have the authority to charge a sitting president with a crime under an opinion written by the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel in 1973 and reaffirmed in 2000.

If Mueller finds Trump engaged in criminal conduct, he could detail it in a report, experts argue, and let Congress to decide whether to launch impeachment proceedings based on Mueller’s findings.

“The president’s personal risk is primarily on the impeachment front,” Whittington said. “Even if there are not things that lead to indictment, there may be matters that warrant an impeachment investigation and proceedings.”

Some of Trump’s advisers have warned White House aides that they fear Mueller could issue a blistering report about the president’s actions.

Several of Trump’s public actions have called into question whether he sought to blunt or block the criminal probe, a line of inquiry that prosecutors began pursuing last year. He has repeatedly called the investigation a “witch hunt” that has unfairly sullied his administration and hampered his ability to accomplish his policy agenda. He fired FBI James B. Comey in May after Comey told Congress that the bureau was investigating possible coordination between the Trump campaign and the Russians. Trump was furious that Comey did not state that he was not personally under investigation, The Washington Post previously reported.

The president also asked top intelligence officials to issue public statements denying the existence of any evidence of coordination between his campaign and the Russian government.

[Trump asked intelligence chiefs to push back against FBI collusion probe after Comey revealed its existence]

Mueller’s team has told Trump’s attorneys over recent months that they are seeking to learn more about the firings of Comey and national security adviser Michael Flynn last year and the president’s efforts to get Attorney General Jeff Sessions to resign.

Nevertheless, Trump has repeatedly expressed an eagerness to sit down for a voluntary interview to answer Mueller’s questions — a move Dowd believed would be a mistake, according to a longtime Trump friend.

Dowd told the president the case against him was weak, but warned Trump he could create criminal jeopardy for himself if he agreed to an interview and misspoke under oath, the friend said. Dowd repeatedly pointed to the Trump campaign advisers who have pleaded guilty to making false statements in the Mueller probe — including Flynn, adviser George Papadopoulos and former campaign official Rick Gates.

“Mueller hasn’t hesitated to [charge] people for lying on some pretty tangential stuff,” said Solomon Wisenberg, a former deputy independent counsel in the probe of President Bill Clinton.

However, Sekulow and Cobb gave the president the opposite advice as Dowd: that it would be politically difficult for Trump to refuse to answer questions after insisting for months there was no collusion or crime, according to three people familiar with their advice.

Wisenberg, who interviewed Clinton about allegations that he obstructed justice, said Trump has handled himself well in previous depositions but should be cautious.

“I think he would do much better than people think,” Wisenberg said. “But there are plenty of instances where a guy walks into a grand jury a subject. He gets out and is told: ‘Guess what, you’re a target now.’”

So while not a criminal target at the moment Trump is, in fact, under formal investigation. Which we already knew, but it's a nice reminder.

[Elegiac]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...=.d20522bf0a6e

So while not a criminal target at the moment Trump is, in fact, under formal investigation. Which we already knew, but it's a nice reminder.

Tijuana better change his signature, I guess.

[Breccia]

Hey remember when Infrastructure Week became American Nazis and the KKK Week?

Then Infrastructure Week 2: Now With Fewer Nazis ran into the snag of "there was nothing for it in the budget that Trump signed"?

Well, over the weekend in Ohio, Trump announced that Infrastructure Week 3: Burning Cross to Bear will be after the elections.

Yep, that's some quality giving up right there. It might have something to do with the sudden increase in steel prices Trump managed to negotiate.

When Trump's infrastructure policy advisor was asked to comment, he said -- you know the words, sing along! -- "I don't exist."

[Dontrike]

Tijuana better change his signature, I guess.

The man can't stay unbanned for more than 3 hours, pretty sure he won't have the time to change it based on facts. Those two don't go together, but I don't care.