Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Pendulous]

'Cause it's not surrounded by big water, ocean water, that is the wettest we've ever seen.

They'd have to cross the Tennessee River, which no person has ever been able to do in the history of mankind. Big river. Ocean river.

[Belize]

What fast food will Trump serve when the Patriots visit?

Raising Cane chicken.

[Kiri]

I was going to be more uncouth (but thought better of it), so let's just roll with that : P

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https://thehill.com/blogs/floor-acti...hoggi-briefing

So the administration briefed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the Saudi killing of Jamal Khashoggi. Let's ass some Republican members how it went!



Sounds like Republican Senators still aren't happy with the Trump administration actively running defense for a prince who ordered the brutal murder of a journalist in his own countries embassy and then repeatedly lied about it. And lied really poorly.

Not sure if deliberate or not.

[Breccia]

T-Mobile writes to Congress as asked, saying they spiked their spending at Trump properties by $195,000 since announcing an upcoming merger.

Before the merger was announced, only two T-Mobile officials had ever stayed at Trump's hotel, according to the Post. Since April 29, T-Mobile executives have stayed at the hotel for at least 52 nights.

As a reminder, Trump has been doing his best to block a similar merger (AT&T) and this can be viewed as direct bribery. Trump said he'd forfeit his salary, and this is just more evidence as to why: he's trying to profit in his role at the White House.

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Well, let's talk about Mitch "the tortoise" McConnell.

He's fucked.

This TheHill article goes into more careful details about what I keep saying in a vague way: McConnell can't afford to ditch Trump.

But he also can't afford to pick fights with the GOP Senators, such as Paul, who are openly defying him.

And his poll numbers are worse than both.

And he's up for re-election.

It's as restrictive for him as being duct taped in the luggage compartment of a plane from the Phillipines.

[Korlok]

It's as restrictive for him as being duct taped in the luggage compartment of a plane from the Phillipines.

God damnit Breccia....... that's just.... topical.

[Nellise]

As a reminder, Trump has been doing his best to block a similar merger (AT&T) and this can be viewed as direct bribery. Trump said he'd forfeit his salary, and this is just more evidence as to why: he's trying to profit in his role at the White House.

The AT&T/Time Warner and T-Mobile/Sprint mergers aren't really similar. The T-Mobile one is definitely problematic as it reduces the 4 main cellular carriers down to 3. The AT&T one, while also problematic in its own ways, was more like the Comcast/NBC merger, carrier and content provider, and isn't directly reducing competition in the same way.

[Breccia]

The AT&T/Time Warner and T-Mobile/Sprint mergers aren't really similar.

Irrelevant. Valid info, but irrelevant in context.

Trump personally promised to stop the AT&T merger because "it's too much concentration of power in the hands of too few."

T-Mobile then dropped two hundred thousand dollars in Trump's lap, right when they're about to reduce from 4 to 3 as you said.

That's bribery. And because T-Mobile is American owned, Trump didn't have to pretend to give the money away like he does with foreign money.

[Nellise]

Irrelevant. Valid info, but irrelevant in context.

Then you shouldn't have said they were similar. You can't shit on Trump for giving misleading (or flat out wrong) information and then do the same yourself.

Whatever actual reason Trump had for opposing the AT&T merger, he wasn't necessarily wrong to do so. Comcast/NBC is still being watched for anti-trust violations and the DOJ doesn't like that merger either even 10 years later. Trump may actually be following the lead of the DOJ's head of the anti-trust division, Makan Delrahim, who doesn't like either deal.

But, yes, the T-Mobile thing is obviously an attempt to gain favor with the administration and is pretty blatant.

[Edge-]

Not sure if deliberate or not.

I wish I could claim it was. I'll just claim it was my subconscious exerting itself instead : P

[Belize]

Is this actually still happening?

Of course not.

[Edge-]

https://thehill.com/homenews/adminis...reporting-rule

Welp, unsurprisingly Mulvaney fucked up in ending the rule that required some employers to report salaries broken down by race/gender. According to a federal judge, while the OMB has the authority to to this, they need to have "good cause" in doing so.

Unsurprisingly, he did not do this according to the judge.

Chutkan agreed, calling the Trump administration's decision to reverse the rule “arbitrary and capricious," according to Reuters. The White House did not immediately return a request for comment from The Hill.

Many, those words are relevant to a whole lot of changes by Trump's administration.

[Edge-]

You mean "because we want to" wasn't enough for good cause?

Apparently not! The administration seems to have significant issues differentiating between, "We have the RIGHT to do X" and "We did X because it was RIGHT".

[Edge-]

It's pretty clear Trump, and those still supporting him, believe he should have the powers of a king as opposed to those we outlined for our President.

They cried about "Emperor Obama" while pining for Emperor Trump. The hypocrisy never ends.

[Redwyrm]

Apparently not! The administration seems to have significant issues differentiating between, "We have the RIGHT to do X" and "We did X because it was RIGHT".

It's more like

Obama Admin did "X"

We are undoing "X" because Obama

[Breccia]

"I've heard that the VA isn't doing enough to prevent veteran suicides," Trump said, "so I'm going to sign an Executive Order to create a veteran suicide prevention task force, separate from the VA. One veteran suicide is too many! This tragedy demands attention!"

A reporter asked, "Are you talking about this GAO report that cites a massive drop-off of VA outreach to at-risk veterans? I mean, it says they spent under 1% of the money budgeted for exactly that."

Trump pointed a tiny finger at the reporter. "Yes, that's the report. Bigly."

The reporter continued, "...the GAO says that started happening immediately after you were elected. Look, there's even a chart reaching back 10 years. Here's Obama, here's you, boooooop. Down. They also said:"

We also found that VA did not have clear goals for evaluating the effectiveness of its outreach activities

"Well, the VA has always been a mess. Such a mess. Yuge mess. That's why I'm making a separate team to handle this tragic loss of veteran lives," Trump responded.

A second reporter asked, "And who's in charge?"

Trump said, "A guy I've known for years. Great guy. The best guy. Only the best guy. Great friends. His name is..." he glanced at the telepromptor, "Robert Wilkie."

The second reporter raised an eyebrow. "The current secretary of VA?"

The first reporter nodded. "Yes, the head of the agency the GAO and Trump just called -- "

"Fuck all of you! I'm actually doing something noble here!" Trump screamed at the shocked crowd. "Veterans commit suicide far above the national average, and I'm actually taking steps to end that! Why can't you see that?"

After a short silence, the first reporter asked, "So it's like a...national emergency?"

Trump, still red-orange from rage, nodded. "Yes. Something like that, yes."

A third reporter spoke up. "Is that why you waited three weeks after waiting five weeks after waiting two years -- "

Trump kicked over the podium, threw handfuls of fast food hamberders into the crowd, and stormed off.

[Edge-]

https://www.businessinsider.com/expo...s-banks-2019-3

Tangentially related given Trumps financial interests with Russia and money laundering organizations including some Russian firms and Deutsche Bank. But apparently a group of journalists just uncovered $9B in Russian money laundering and it hits a number of western banks including Citigroup and Deutsche Bank.

[Adam Jensen]

So Presidential harassment. I wondered what those all caps tweets were in reference to.

"Presidential Harassment" tweets make me laugh.

Like, dude, remember the time you were harassing Obama about his birth certificate? Or his golf excursions, or literally everything else Obama said and did?

[Edge-]

"Presidential Harassment" tweets make me laugh.

Like, dude, remember the time you were harassing Obama about his birth certificate? Or his golf excursions, or literally everything else Obama said and did?

It's different though. Obama was black.

[kaelleria]

"Presidential Harassment" tweets make me laugh.

Like, dude, remember the time you were harassing Obama about his birth certificate? Or his golf excursions, or literally everything else Obama said and did?

Tan suits and mustard... The nerve.

[Breccia]

Like, dude, remember the time you were harassing Obama about his birth certificate?

Well, looks like it's time to play Guess the Speaker, LIGHTNING ROUND!

As you’ve heard, earlier today the FBI after discovering new emails is reopening their investigation into Hillary Clinton… The investigation is the biggest political scandal since Watergate and it’s everybody’s hope that justice at last can be delivered.

If Hillary Clinton were to be elected, it would create an unprecedented and protracted constitutional crisis. Haven’t we just been through a lot with the Clintons, right?

Hillary is likely to be under investigation for many years, probably concluding in a criminal trial.

She'll be under investigation for years. She'll be with trials. Our country, we have to get back to work.

Hillary has engaged in a criminal massive enterprise and cover-ups like probably nobody ever before

There's virtually no doubt that FBI Director Comey and the great, great special agents of the FBI will be able to collect more than enough evidence to garner indictments against Hillary Clinton and her inner circle, despite her efforts to disparage them and to discredit them. If she were to win this election, it would create an unprecedented constitutional crisis. In that situation, we could very well have a sitting president under felony indictment and ultimately a criminal trial.

Her current scandals and controversies will continue throughout her presidency and we will make it honestly, look, it's gonna be virtually impossible for her to govern. Now, the Republicans have talked very tough and the Democrats. It's gonna be just another mess for another four years, folks. A mess. We've got to get back to work, right? I mean, we have to get back to work.

First thing you should do is get rid of Clinton. Hillary Clinton will be under investigation for a long, long time for her many crimes against our nation, our people, our democracy, likely concluding in a criminal trial.

The investigations into her crimes will go on for a long, long time. The rank and file special agents at the FBI won't let her get away with these terrible crimes, including the deletion of 33,000 emails after receiving a congressional subpoena. Right now, she's being protected by a rigged system.

Oh, that bolded.

Yes, of course, every single one was then-candidate Donald Trump.

Every single one -- except the ones about conclusions, which of course we haven't reached yet -- has become true so far under Trump.

And it's suddenly Presidential Harassment, now that he's the one doing what he claimed Clinton was doing/would do.

The funny part, is that even if Trump started admitting this was fair, he'd still be a hypocrite.

Another day when Trump accuses other people of doing what he does. Another day in the Shitshow.