Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Eviscero]

Yet another "only Trump could do this"

Trump plans to nominate Brian Brooks to a five-year term as comptroller of the currency, the White House said on Tuesday.

"Who's that?"

The acting official in that place. Trump dragged his feet, refusing to nominate anyone, then wants to quick give a five-year term before he's fired.

I assume congress can impeach this appointee if necessary? Must. Win. Senate.

[Breccia]

Trump to spend Thanksgiving in the White House bunker, crying like a bitch.

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I assume congress can impeach this appointee if necessary?

Impeached by House, trial by Senate, yes.

[Edge-]

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/t...e-thanksgiving

Trump, who once said he'd never want to leave the White House yet managed to leave it almost once a week on average to visit his properties, seems to finally be sticking to his word.

Now that his time in the White House has an expiration date, he seems be eschewing his normal "Winter White House" trip to Mar a Lago to stay in the White House a bit longer.

[Felya]

https://www.thedailybeast.com/qanon-...ida?ref=author

Q anon nutter who previously lost custody of her children, kidnapped them from their grandparents home and fled the law, and was trying to get custody back murdered the "lawyer" who was "helping" her (another conspiracy theorist nutter). And ended up murdering him because she became convinced he was a part of the conspiracy/plot to kidnap children or something.

Trump has mainstreamed this. The blood and the childhood trauma are on his shoulders.

I knew the story before the murder part... How does this end with murder now? It was just a stupid QAnon kidnapping her own children... now it’s murder...

[Thekri]

A troop withdrawl is, admittedly, a lot less of a fuckup than launching strikes at Iran. And don't bother saying "why not both?" because yes, that's also an option.

Yes, it is less of a fuckup then unprovoked strikes on a sovereign nation, but that is a pretty low bar to clear. Given the timing of this order, it is almost certainly the reason for Esper's departure, just as the equally poorly convinced retreat from Syria led to the resignation of James Mattis.

Irrational policy demands from the White House are nothing unique to the Trump department, but the wildly irresponsible nature of them definitely exceeds his predecessors. This one for instance is a terrible plan, but not necessarily for the reasons you might think. A troop drawdown itself is not a horrible idea, it is the conditions this takes place in that makes it horrible. For one thing, it cements the position of the Taliban in Afghanistan at a critical time, making it clear the US has neither the interest or the capability to hold them to the deal.

The other reason is more... technical. I ran security for some of these bases, and the logistics of defending them are extremely complicated. There are clear breakpoints for the amount of manpower that is required to maintain a perimeter large enough to protect an airfield. If you shrink the number of people on that base, it doesn't change the physical size of the base, because you still have protect the whole runway. By 2016, this had already started being a major problem, with huge amounts of empty space on bases, which is all a liability to defend. Dipping total troop numbers below 10k means that the vast majority of the force has to be dedicated to just defending the runways, and going lower still means it is flat out impossible to defend. In 2016 I was already dealing with a bizarre situation where I was running about 120 of my soldiers ragged in Afghanistan, while the other 100+ of my soldiers sat on their ass in the US doing nothing. The only reason I couldn't bring them in was politics.

Drawing down responsibly means closing bases. The Obama era drawdowns did this. But by 2018 or so, we were left with really only the big three still open (Bagram, KAF, Jalalabad/OB Fenty). Each of these bases is massive, and requires somewhere around 1,000 or so to operate (Closer to 2,000 for Bagram). Keeping those bases open with less is just asking for a slaughter. Someone can breach the gates and cause hundreds of casualties in a few hours. Actually closing those bases is something we have been reluctant to do, because they control the Capital, the South, and the East respectively. Removing one of those bases means ceding political control of a major city and accompanying region to the Taliban or ISK.

TLDR: This is a half assed plan that the Trump administration has refused to properly plan or resource, and arbitrary short term drawdowns put US servicemembers and the entire nation of Afghanistan at massive, and unnecessary risk.

[For_The_Horde]

Trump to spend Thanksgiving in the White House bunker, crying like a bitch.

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Impeached by House, trial by Senate, yes.

Well damn, there goes the plan of changing the locks while he's out of town for the holidays.

[Rasulis]

Before @Benggaul posts the numbers, let's talk about North Dakota.

It's fucking itself to death.

If North Dakota was a country, it would have the highest COVID mortality rate in the world.

And South Dakota is #3 in the world. Covid cases are spreading like crazy in every single states. Hospital beds are full. Healthcare workers are exhausted. Meanwhile, the president is sulking, the vice president is busy campaigning in GA, the white house is totally paralyzed. The Covid task force is not allowed to share info with Biden. In fact, the next incoming administration is completely shut out of the loop on everything.

This is so stupid. Eighteen (18) US states are in the top 50 Covid hotspots with the highest mortality rate in the world.

[Gorsameth]

I had assumed it would all be this... vague hearsay that he can allege he was told to avoid facing legal repercussions when it’s found out to be utter bullshit

While it might avoid legal repercussions 'vague hearsay' also gets thrown out really quick, so its completely useless.

[SirBeef]

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/...52352787484677

Fucking chud. Hey conservaturds, this is your god.

[Breccia]

Fucking chud. Hey conservaturds, this is your god.

In Trump's world, there is only loyalty to Trump.

I wonder who will realize they're next before they're next?

[beanman12345]

Trump's Fed nominee fails Senate confirmation.

Excellent.

Jeez too close for comfort, but glad Kamala got her vote in, cause iirc lamar alexander was against it, but wasn't gonna be there? maybe he was. Still, good news.

[Kaleredar]

While it might avoid legal repercussions 'vague hearsay' also gets thrown out really quick, so its completely useless.

They’re keeping it in the news cycle, getting money from their followers, and probably hoping that volume of lawsuits rather than merit gives them enough... “credence,” let’s say, to keep saying the election was rigged or stolen till the end of time.

[beanman12345]

Why would she? The same people are going to be there voting. Those same people who just said "nope".

Actually the same people won't be there. They only have a couple more days and McSally is gone replaced by Kelly. She ain't getting another vote.

[cubby]

Actually the same people won't be there. They only have a couple more days and McSally is gone replaced by Kelly. She ain't getting another vote.

That's how I was seeing it, too. Kelly showing up soon. Three GOP's voting against it. Seems like it's just not going to happen.

[Breccia]

C’mon now, everyone is already looking for new jobs. Or contemplating retirement.

The direct Trump appointees likely aren't. If they get caught looking for a job with the only thing on their resume being "Worked for Trump" they'll be fired.

[jonnysensible]

since the thread title was changed from shitshow can it be changed now to The Donald Trump memorial thread?

[Breccia]

since the thread title was changed from shitshow can it be changed now to The Donald Trump memorial thread?

Well besides the fact that he provoked Iran while firing both the head of CISA and also Esper, and is seconds from firing the head of the FBI and/pr the CIA, plus is screaming into his phone while suffering the after-effects of COVID on a 350-pound frame...it might literally be.

[Edge-]

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/1...vid-ads-437183

And the "feel good" PR campaign that they couldn't get any celebrities anyone gives a shit to sign on for to combat people being sad during a pandemic is well and truly dead. Good.

[Breccia]

And the "feel good" PR campaign that they couldn't get any celebrities anyone gives a shit to sign on for to combat people being sad during a pandemic is well and truly dead. Good.

This might literally be the first I've heard of it. Sad.

EDIT: So...is this yet another contract they signed that Trump won't pay them?

[Cthulhu 2020]

So I’m thinking what Trump is trying to do, when he made the decision to pull troops outta Afghanistan, is to make it so more chaos runs amok there, forcing Biden to have to send far more troops there than we had before, prompting the US public to immediately assume Biden sent us straight to war, more debt, etc.

This plan would immediately paint Biden in a negative way, and it’s probably also why Trump wanted to start shit with Iran right before he leaves office.

Very likely. The few people who are actually still loyal to Trump are probably whispering in his ear, telling him ways in which he could fuck over the next administration before he ever leaves office.

Many of us thought that Trump leaving office would be the end of it, but I foresee at least 4 years of Trump's cult hanging off of his every word as he continues to tweet falsehoods about the Biden presidency.