Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Felya]

Are people "fleeing" NY in record numbers? lol

I have not heard anything about Trump tower moving. The one in Moscow is an additional one.

Do people just ignore that Trump is a NYC oligarch? Is he selling his property in NY because people are fleeing? Rediculous...

[Belize]

Are people "fleeing" NY in record numbers? lol

Isn't it Spring Break?

Maybe his confusing people getting the fuck out of frigid weather for a week, before having to go back to their miserable work lives, with fleeing?

[Breccia]

So we've seen this topic covered before here and here. Let's make it official: there are 84 coal-fired power plants in Germany. They will all be closed over the next 19 years.

Because Germany is true to their word. They're staying in the Paris Accord. Oh, and Clean Coal doesn't exist, coal isn't economically viable, great strides in green energy etc etc.

Germany used to import about a billion dollars in coal per year. It's no longer coming here. And Trump can't stop it.

[Adam Jensen]

It's all the old people moving somewhere warmer.

Snowbirds.

We have them in Maine too. They drive around with Florida license plate, they're old as shit and they disappear to Florida sometime in or after October and start coming back in April.

[Paranoid Android]

.@LoriLoughlin & @FelicityHuffman indicted for lying and buying spots in college.

They worried their daughters are as stupid as their mothers. https://t.co/cSBugdydmo

https://twitter.com/KellyannePolls/s...655430145?s=19

We just had to wait for a trump minion to chime in. Not going in depth about the scandal since there is a thread.

So Kelly Anne, is just going to ignore Trump's academic past and college admittance, plus Jared Kushner.

[Machismo]

https://twitter.com/KellyannePolls/s...655430145?s=19

We just had to wait for a trump minion to chime in. Not going in depth about the scandal since there is a thread.

So Kelly Anne, is just going to ignore Trump's academic past and college admittance, plus Jared Kushner.

They are just mad that those women didn't try to pay bribes to get them into Trump's fake university.

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Remember when Trump and Republicans said they like immigrants as long as they come the "right" way?

https://www.npr.org/2019/03/12/70280...ration-offices



Yep, they're apparently trying to make that harder as well.

That has always been a lie, and from everyone who says it. The best way to test it, is to tell push them to make the "right way" much easier, faster, and available to everyone.

Watch them dance.

[Breccia]

So Kelly Anne, is just going to ignore Trump's academic past and college admittance, plus Jared Kushner.

"How dare these celebrities use their money and fame to commit academic fraud!" shrieks Conway, as Trump University is fined millions and shut down for being an academic fraud.

[some guy]

https://twitter.com/KellyannePolls/s...655430145?s=19

We just had to wait for a trump minion to chime in. Not going in depth about the scandal since there is a thread.

So Kelly Anne, is just going to ignore Trump's academic past and college admittance, plus Jared Kushner.

Yes. We are all aware of the massive amount hypocrisy from current republicans. Just remember that there is no use calling them out on it, as they, or the people who vote for them, don't give a shit.

[Paranoid Android]

https://mobile.twitter.com/realDonal...27007991025666

So, fake Melania confirmed?

Wait so Trump is making his own conspiracy theory over an internet conspiracy theory about a Melania double/fake?

This guy's idiocy is next level.

[Breccia]

So, fake Melania confirmed?

Nah. That's almost certainly her. But Trump done fucked it up again by insisting those pics were photoshopped without any kind of evidence. As opposed to, say, an aging trophy wife who clearly didn't want to spend her day at a graveyard photo-op while her husband's lawyer talks about his infidelity on live TV under oath not looking her best that day.

[Breccia]

So Trump is promising not to abuse national emergencies if the GOP just allow him to abuse it this one time.

Pfft. You sound just like Speaker of the House and confirmed sunglasses wearer Nancy Pelosi.

Pelosi sought to make clear that wouldn't fly with House Democrats, issuing her statement on the eve of the expected Thursday vote in the Senate on a resolution disapproving of Trump's emergency declaration. The House passed that resolution late last month.

"Republican Senators are proposing new legislation to allow the President to violate the Constitution just this once in order to give themselves cover," Pelosi said in a statement. "The House will not take up this legislation to give President Trump a pass."

"Look, Trump can try over and over to violate the rules that hold this country together," Pelosi didn't say but I'm pretending she did, "but this isn't just a small hill he's climbing, it's Mount St. Gofuckyourself and he doesn't have a sherpa. At some point, he's going to run out of oxygen and pass out from exhaustion. He just doesn't have..."

(sunglasses)

"...the Constitution."

And then she walked away from an explosion.

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I agree, it just seems weird he'd call the live coverage photoshopped.

Oh shit, it was a video? I mean, you can slap orange filters on a video (yes, someone did that, yes, they got fired) but that's not what we're talking about here. Melania (that is her) looks tired, depressed even, and more like she didn't get her usual gold-star taxpayer daily makeover than the Adobe "Wife Swap Filter" app.

[Adam Jensen]

Donald Trump's twitter account is a fascinating, yet terrifying insight to the adderal infected mind of a dementia addled ignorant narcissist.

Like a psychologist's wet dream.

[Breccia]

Oh and a reminder: best of my admittedly limited knowledge, the Senate has to vote on the House-passed bill by Friday and it's expected to pass. As we've discussed before the GOP is frantically looking for a way they can both allow Trump's resolution to continue (not because they want the Wall, they don't, but because they don't want to lose Trump's base), and also, to prevent future Democratic Presidents (like Biden) from immediately using this for everything while saying "hey, you said it was okay, these are your names signed on this bill saying it's okay, enjoy that manure sandwich you made for yourselves".

Point is: 48 hours isn't a lot of time to suddenly come up with something that both straddles the line, and also is something the Senate is allowed to vote on (see also: parliamentarian). If you thought the GOP health care plan was the most rushed...well, it was. I think they'll probably just give up, hand Trump something to veto, and dig their own grave a little deeper.

[Flarelaine]

it's Mount St. Gofuckyourself and he doesn't have a sherpa. At some point, he's going to run out of oxygen and pass out from exhaustion.

That does not take a mountain.

[Breccia]

So Trump could be preparing for his first veto.

"National security lol?"

No. Well, okay, maybe. But WH advisors are pressing him to veto the House-passed Senate-vote-today bill that says "the Saudis fucking murdered a guy, stop backing them".

McConnell was unable to block it, and it could not be filibustered.

"Which advisors?"

The Office of Management and Budget.

"...so...'we'll be siding with murdering dictators because money' is the official position?"

Seems so.

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Jay Leno laments the political status of late night TV.

"No, it’s different. I don’t miss it. You know, everything now is, if people don’t like your politics, they — everyone has to know your politics," Leno replied.

"I kind of used Johnny’s model. People couldn’t figure out. 'Well, you and your Republican friends' or 'Well, Mr. Leno, you and your Democratic buddies.' And I would get hate mail from both sides equally," Leno said, referring to his predecessor at "The Tonight Show," Johnny Carson.

"But when people see you as one-sided, it just makes it tough," Leno, 68, continued. "And plus, I did it when, you know, Clinton was horny and [George W.] Bush was dumb, and it was just a little easier."

"Now it’s all very serious," he said. "I’d just like to see a bit of civility come back to it, you know? People say, 'Oh, it must be easy to do jokes with Trump.' No, it’s actually harder because the punch line of the joke used to be 'That’s like the president with a porn star.' Well, now the president is with a porn star. Where do you go with that? How do you get more outrageous than that?"

Which I think we can agree, it's hard to top reality with jokes. But you have to --

"Wait a minute! Wasn't Leno once called the Hero of the Republican Party?"

Um...yes?

"So, isn't this one of the times you say 'you don't get to complain about the rules just because you're losing'?"

I guess it is, yeah. I guess, for a Republican "hero", it must be much harder now to see pretty much everything the Republicans do falling down in flames in ways not even a comedy legend can make fun of.

[Edge-]

https://www.newsweek.com/king-trump-...s-stop-1361192

A dozen GOP Senator introduced legislation to reign in the powers of the president to declare national emergencies! They're putting a limit on how long an emergency can last, 30 days, before Congressional approval is needed to extend it.

Great job, Republicans!

While Lee's measure would not affect Trump's current national emergency declaration, it would apply to future declarations.

Oh, so this is just the legislation Pence begged them to pass. Righto then, Congressional Republicans largely remain the scum of the earth.

Bonus points for a "both sides" argument, ignoring the fact that the only president that has ever tried to abuse national emergency declarations in our lifetimes is...well...Trump.

[Breccia]

Oh, so this is just the legislation Pence begged them to pass.

This seems an awful lot like breakup sex. "Okay, I'll let you bend me over and pound me, but this is the last time!"

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Congressional Republicans largely remain the scum of the earth.

Shh! No time for that! A Congressional Republican just called out Pelosi for hypocrisy!

"For what?"

For being against the abovecited Pence bill, which would restrain all national emergency declarations, after this one.

"Wait, for saying 'make it apply to all of them' instead of 'make it apply to all of them except for Trump' somehow she's the hypocrite?"

That's the narrative being pushed, yes. Here is the exact quote:

I think it's kind of hypocritical on her part to be bellyaching about the use of national emergency provisions of the statutes that Congress delegates to the president, say it's not an emergency and also that he is abusing his powers and has no constitutional authority. And we have a bill that prospectively says, you know we're going to limit that — it just doesn't make sense to me.

Yes, the bill says "we're going to limit that, except for Trump". Pelosi specifically and directly cited that. That context was ignored in favor of pushing a narrative.

Scum of the earth.

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So let's talk about --

"NOT THIS AGAIN!"

-- the Boeing 737 MAX. Two crashes in six months is statistically quite high for the same model of aircraft (not counting combat models). So naturally, a bunch of countries declared...oh God, I can't do this with a straight face...a "total and complete shutdown of Boeing MAX 737 until we figure out what the hell is going on".

Which countries, you ask? Well ask no more! I have a handy dandy map right here!



Yeah I didn't choose orangey-brown for the countries with the, erm, "MAXlim Ban". Axios did that for me. I did choose red for "countries with a Boeing exec in one of the highest offices in federal government".

Calls for grounding the plane are coming from both parties and also Consumer Reports (ouch). Yet there seems to be holdout. Gee I wonder why.

"Okay, but there are very fine planes on many sides -- "

Look, with no other President could I say this. Lobbying? Absolutely. Airlines are big business, they lobby all the time. But until today, I could not say "the US govt, including its XXX company exec picked for a Cabinet-level post, did not ban the XXX product or even call for an investigation." If I'm wrong, tell me who/when, and I'll admit defeat in public. Until then, I stand behind that statement.

P.S. this Military Times article lays out the conflict of interest in detail, and if they're saying it, it's a big deal.

[Belize]

https://mobile.twitter.com/realDonal...27007991025666

So, fake Melania confirmed?

Oh, so we were right, that lady looked nothing like Melania.

Jesus Christ what a retard. I hope he gets his ass dragged in court, he'll just blurt everything out.

[Breccia]

So let's read an OP ED about "national security lol".

The problem with the emergency declaration is that, even if it’s technically legal (a matter of debate that will go up to the Supreme Court), it is clearly pretextual and a way to do an end run around the congressional spending power. The president himself in his press conference announcing the emergency said that he didn’t have to do it, but that he wanted to build new fencing more quickly than he could without the declaration.

If anyone shouldn’t be okay with this, it’s Congress. Under the National Emergencies Act, it can vote to disapprove of an emergency declaration by a president, who can, in turn, veto the disapproval (which Trump will do). A resolution of disapproval already passed the House, and seems likely to pass the Senate, the only question being how many Republicans will defy the president and vote for it.

They are in an awkward position. Almost all of them support the president’s policy goal at the border, they just can’t support the means he’s using to get there. This is difficult to explain when the partisan divide is so stark and when Trump is portraying the resolution as an up-or-down vote on the wall.

Mike Lee has tried to broker a deal to approve of the current declaration in exchange for changing the National Emergencies Act to require the affirmative approval of Congress for future emergency declarations. This would be a welcome change, although the White House hasn’t gotten on board.

One reason that Congress has ceded so much power to the executive branch and the courts over the decades is that it’s so often unwilling to take political responsibility and to protect its own prerogatives. Congressional Democrats didn’t utter a peep of disapproval when President Obama rewrote immigration law on his own, with not even a whisper of statutory warrant.

38
A vote to disapprove of Trump’s emergency declaration obviously won’t reverse this long-term trend. It will show, though, that at least a fraction of one of the political parties is willing to stand up for how our constitutional system is supposed to work — even when the underlying political objective is a worthy one, even when it means crossing a president of their own party, even when it is politically inconvenient.

It’s a tough vote, but a worthy one.

"What librul Fake News...uh...what fine, upstanding morally just American wrote this?"

The National Review. The title of the article is "Disapprove". Yes, one word. No, not all caps.

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You've all seen/played the kids game "One, two, three, NOT IT!" at some point. You probably didn't see it at such a high level, though.

"Okay, Trump declared National Security LOL, and will therefore be moving funds from funded, but incomplete and nonvital, military projects. Which of you Branches of the Armed Forces has allocated money that they don't need? One, two, three --"

Air Force: "NOT IT!"

Yep, AF Sec Wilson went before the Senate to say "All of our projects are important and ongoing. Also, what the goddam steam fuck would the Air Force do patrolling Pelosi's flower garden? Is an A-10 Thunderbolt going to pull over a group of unarmed women and children on foot? Look, even if the money comes from us, it has to be used for military support, that's the law. The Air Force would be zero to negative use keeping people from climbing a makeshift scrap metal fence. Call us for something important, like when 2020 numbers start rolling in and you need us to bomb Iran."

"Well, his ass is fired."

Her ass. Sec. Wilson is a woman. And Trump can't realistically fire her, as of next week she won't exist to spend time with her family. Is there an Air Force version of "abandoning a sinking ship"? Something with blimps, maybe?

[Adam Jensen]

Shh! No time for that! A Congressional Republican just called out Pelosi for hypocrisy!

"For what?"

For being against the abovecited Pence bill, which would restrain all national emergency declarations, after this one.

"Wait, for saying 'make it apply to all of them' instead of 'make it apply to all of them except for Trump' somehow she's the hypocrite?"

That's the narrative being pushed, yes. Here is the exact quote:



Yes, the bill says "we're going to limit that, except for Trump". Pelosi specifically and directly cited that. That context was ignored in favor of pushing a narrative.

Scum of the earth.

Way to show your true motivations Congressman Biggs.