Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Breccia]

Bolton unloads on Trump’s foreign policy behind closed doors

Oh, man. This is just...sad.

John Bolton, President Donald Trump’s fired national security adviser, harshly criticized Trump’s foreign policy on Wednesday at a private lunch, saying that inviting the Taliban to Camp David sent a “terrible signal” and that it was “disrespectful” to the victims of 9/11 because the Taliban had harbored al Qaeda.

Bolton also said that any negotiations with North Korea and Iran were “doomed to failure,” according to two attendees.

“He ripped Trump, without using his name, several times,” said one attendee. Bolton didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Bolton also said more than once that Trump’s failure to respond to the Iranian attack on an American drone earlier this summer set the stage for the Islamic Republic’s aggression in recent months.

At one point, Bolton, a previous chairman of Gatestone, suggested that had the U.S. retaliated for the drone shootdown, Iran might not have damaged the Saudi oil fields.

Question: when a child's parents are getting divorced, can they choose to live with neither parent?

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Once again, it's time for Guess the Speaker!

Although initial press accounts reported only a single instance of a military crew staying at Trump Turnberry this spring, the data provided by the Department now indicates that U.S. taxpayer funds have been used to pay for more than three dozen separate stays involving hundreds of nights of rooms—all after the President was sworn into office

"Some sort of watchdog?"

The House Oversight Committee, yes. The topic is $184,000 spent by the Pentagon directly to Trump's Scottish resort, yes, the Air Force thing expanded to this.

"Is $184,000 really a big deal?"

Well, what is the correct amount of taxpayer money that government officials should pay directly into their boss's bank account? Because I think the answer is "zero".

[Wyrt]

Once again, it's time for Guess the Speaker!



"Some sort of watchdog?"

The House Oversight Committee, yes. The topic is $184,000 spent by the Pentagon directly to Trump's Scottish resort, yes, the Air Force thing expanded to this.

"Is $184,000 really a big deal?"

Well, what is the correct amount of taxpayer money that government officials should pay directly into their boss's bank account? Because I think the answer is "zero".

How have the Democrats not impeached this corrupt sack of shit yet? It won't pass in the senate, yes, but let the Republicans fucking die on the hill of corruption.

[Breccia]

Doing their part for Trump, the Interior Department transfered 70 miles of border land to the Army, making it easier for them to build Wall on it since it'll be done with military funding.

The order temporarily transfers the land to the Army for a three-year period for border security purposes.

The transferred land includes portions of Luna and Hidalgo Counties in New Mexico, San Diego County, California and Yuma County, Arizona.

The Interior Department said the transfer of land will also prevent “environmental issues caused by unlawful border crossings,” including land degradation, destruction of trails and unlawful fires.

Trump celebrated this victory for the environment by blocking California's auto emissions standards, rolling back Obama-era clean air and water regulations, and personally signing an order to allow coal sludge dumping directly into drinking water.

EDIT: Just a reminder, the crisis at the border is so strong, that border crossing apprehensions are down, despite there not being a Wall.

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Washington Post is reporting that the whistleblower was concerned about Trump making a promise to a foreign leader. This was so troubling that the person went to the IG.

Could this be related?

So I want to point out last week a federal court filing showed that Barr asserted state secrets to block the release of an fbi report detailing extensive relationships between the 19 hijackers and SAUDI GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS. And these are the people trump wants to rally behind?!

One of the terrorists worked for the ministry of defense (for Saudi Arabia) and was being paid for a job he never shows up at and the company had ties to osama. Then they received more money when more people came like wtf why the fuck are we allies with essentially the country that very likely hand hands in the worst terror attack on our country?

[kaelleria]

Doing their part for Trump, the Interior Department transfered 70 miles of border land to the Army, making it easier for them to build Wall on it since it'll be done with military funding.



Trump celebrated this victory for the environment by blocking California's auto emissions standards, rolling back Obama-era clean air and water regulations, and personally signing an order to allow coal sludge dumping directly into drinking water.

EDIT: Just a reminder, the crisis at the border is so strong, that border crossing apprehensions are down, despite there not being a Wall.

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Could this be related?

Possibly... The super fucked up thing about this entire situation is that we may have no record of it... if it was an official call there would be a transcript. If it was on Trump's cellphone (you know the one every government in the world has access to) we're going to have a hard time getting a record of it.

[Breccia]

Giving up on Trump entirely, the National Foreign Trade Council and 22 other business/trade lobbying groups just write to the House and Senate directly.

In the letter, they remind the legislative branch who is supposed to run trade, that tariffs haven't been used like this since the 1930's, and said they would be ready to back new legislation to reign in Trump's power to directly tank the economy.

[Flarelaine]

Eh, doubtful, Qatar mostly minds its own shit lately.

Qatar is still being blackballed by their Gulf neighbours. We know they paid a lot of money to Kushner. It could be Qatar; they may have asked Trump to get the Saudis off their backs.

[Fahrenheit]

So the talk now about the whistle blower incident is that the promise was in regards to the Spy in Russia’s inner circle. That’s why they needed to emergency extract him, because Trump promised Putin something in regards to him.

[Dontrike]

So the talk now about the whistle blower incident is that the promise was in regards to the Spy in Russia’s inner circle. That’s why they needed to emergency extract him, because Trump promised Putin something in regards to him.

Why do I suddenly think Trump promised Putin that spy?

[Orbitus]

Why do I suddenly think Trump promised Putin that spy?

It wouldn't surprise me, it is either that or the sanctions that Sessions promised them that was going to go away before they were sworn in.

[Fahrenheit]

Why do I suddenly think Trump promised Putin that spy?

The WH's new line is that "the President is the ultimate classification authority. And that if he wants to give away classified information to whomever he wants, it's perfectly legal." So, yeah...

[zenkai]

How have the Democrats not impeached this corrupt sack of shit yet? It won't pass in the senate, yes, but let the Republicans fucking die on the hill of corruption.

Probably because It wouldn't pass in the house either.

[Thekri]

The WH's new line is that "the President is the ultimate classification authority. And that if he wants to give away classified information to whomever he wants, it's perfectly legal." So, yeah...

The thing is, that is actually true. Which is a bit of a problem with our system of government, all of our institutions assume that the President would in some way value the interests of our nation. If the president does not, and chooses to act like a narcissistic force of chaos and/or a foreign agent, well our system really doesn't have a good solution to that.

[Fahrenheit]

The thing is, that is actually true. Which is a bit of a problem with our system of government, all of our institutions assume that the President would in some way value the interests of our nation. If the president does not, and chooses to act like a narcissistic force of chaos and/or a foreign agent, well our system really doesn't have a good solution to that.

It does, impeachment, but not if 1 of the political parties puts their self interests over that of the well being of the national to have a competent, non-scumbag in the WH. More than anything, that's what I don't get, and never will get about the Republican infatuation with Trump, and I say this a guy that's probably still voted for more Republicans than Democrats (though that's changing fast), the dude is a cancer, a sugar high that's giving them some transient 'wins' now, but he's absolutely destroying them in the long term. I mean the GOP already faces an up hill battle with shifting demographics, but now with Trump in the mix? He's not worth the eventual cost.

[kaelleria]

I don't think the whistleblower has anything to do with the spy that was extracted from Russia because the timeline doesn't make a whole lot of sense... You need to remember that the whistleblower went to the intelligence IG in mid August and the story about the spy extraction didn't drop until last week.

We know Trump doesn't pay attention to briefings, so he would not have known about it until it hit cable.

[Thepersona]

Innnnnnteresting, but I thought that process was more...oh, right, Bolton. Hmm. Maybe, but I don't know what Trump "owes" North Korea that would cause concern for the FBI.

Maybe it's still russia?
That may explain why Trump, a person who loves saying that he would kill everyone, chickened out when "the houthies" obliterated half of SA oil processing capabilities.

[Felya]

Probably because It wouldn't pass in the house either.

Seeing as you insisted there was no blue wave during the midterms, where democrats took the house. I can see how you would come to such a conclusion. But, since democrats do control the house, due to the blue wave, it’s likely to pass.

It's always really weird when the President isn't tweeting first thing in the morning...

No offense, but I had to check. What happened around 12 hours ago, that would occupy Trump’s attention so much, that he doesn’t tweet? /s

[Breccia]

Movement on gun control legislation.

While sources tell CBS that Trump will veto an assault weapon ban, gun confiscations, and other things nobody's actually presenting anyhow so who cares, he is, at least for now, open to

1) expanded, but not universal, background checks
2) mental health reform (again, he cut funding for that, so, kind of a dick move)
3) allowing juvenile criminal records to be explored in background checks
4) expediting the death penalty for mass shooters (you know, for those few who aren't killed)
5) labeling domestic terrorism as a federal crime
6) cracking down on straw purchases
7) that instant app background check thingy

While Trump will veto universal background checks, the fact that he's willing to do anything at all is kind of telling. The NRA apparently still has some major clout, but it's slowing him down, not stopping him, from applying more gun control than Obama.

[Edge-]

https://www.france24.com/en/20190919...tion-tillerson

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu skillfully "played" US President Donald Trump by plying him with inaccurate information, former secretary of state Rex Tillerson said.

Netanyahu, who is fighting for his political life after close elections, was "a bit Machiavellian" and would share "misinformation" with the United States, according to Trump's former top diplomat.

Tillerson, who was fired by Trump last year, made the observations during a forum Tuesday at Harvard University as reported by The Harvard Gazette, the university's official news outlet.

"In dealing with Bibi, it's always useful to carry a healthy amount of skepticism in your discussions with him," he was quoted as saying, using Netanyahu's nickname.

"They did that with the president on a couple of occasions, to persuade him that 'We're the good guys, they're the bad guys.'

"We later exposed it to the president so he understood, 'You've been played,'" Tillerson said, according to the newspaper.

"It bothers me that an ally that's that close and important to us would do that to us," he said.

Of course Trump would be so easily played by Bibi.

[some guy]

We all know it's easy to play Trump. Just give a compliment first.

[Breccia]

Trump sues to block the release of his taxes to the government.

"You already posted that."

That was blocking the Senate. Now he's trying to block NYState prosecutors as well. NYState seeks the returns as part of their investigation into Trump using campaign funds to pay off a prostitute.

"She's a porn star."

If she takes money for sex, she's a prostitute. Anyhow, Trump seems far more concerned with what people will see in his tax returns than the fact that he went whoring while his third wife was pregnant. Trump also tried suing Deutsche Bank to prevent them from releasing the returns, that failed, and Deutsche Bank has had enough trouble with US law to defy a court order.

Now @cubby is free to correct me if I'm wrong, but...I think NYState prosecutors will get those returns.

1) Cohen plead guilty to paying off the prostitute. I believe he gave the prosecutors enough probable cause.

2) If Trump wants to claim "no, I didn't use campaign funds" he would need to prove that. You can't just say so in court and hope the honor system applies.

3) Trump is a known user of shell companies, LLCs, and declaring corporate bankruptcy to basically dance around things like "paying his workers" or "paying his shareholders" or "paying his own money when his projects implode". He likely tries to keep it legal, because otherwise he loses all the money he wanted to save, plus more and/or jail time. And even if you thought you could pull one over on a legal clerk in some office somewhere, you don't fucking lie to the IRS. That's the kiss of death, economically speaking. If Trump illegally contributed to his own campaign (to pay off a prostitute or anything else), he probably tried filtering money through these same channels, because he wanted to distance himself from being caught whoring. But those businesses, if they exist, have a paper trail, and number one on that list is their taxes.

Also...has anyone heard from the National Enquirer recently? They were last seen agreeing to help NYState prosecutors on exactly this matter.