Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Paranoid Android]

SCOOP: Trump asked McConnell to fast-track the confirmation of the IRS chief counsel in Feb, saying it should go even before Barr. @npfandos and me https://t.co/KdNOvQJF3r via @NYTimes

https://twitter.com/maggieNYT/status...000094721?s=19

Obviously our Orange Leader wanted to have legal council in place at the IRS in case any legal problems came between the government and Joe the Plumber during tax season.

[Breccia]

Remember that emergency at the boarder[sic]?

Which one, the one where he closes the border, the one where he declares National Security Lol to fund the Wall with military pensions, the one where rapists are throwing drugs over the fence and hit people, the one where...

[Santti]

Why don't we just make the secretary of the interior this guy and drop the pretenses?

"Water" the swamp with Brawndo's Thirst Mutilator? Wouldn't exactly drain the swamp, but would kill it for sure.

[bladeXcrasher]

"Water" the swamp with Brawndo's Thirst Mutilator? Wouldn't exactly drain the swamp, but would kill it for sure.

But it's what swamps want...it has electrolytes

[Ripster42]

All yaps (he doesn't even bark) no bite.
Trump is the biggest spineless mollusk to have ever disgraced the world with his presence. A jellyfish has more of a spine than this soggy piss soaked rag.

I wouldn't say there's no bite. He's still holding people, including children, in "fenced enclosures" (you know, cages), where they're being abused, and dying from lack of medical care.

[Belize]

I wouldn't say there's no bite. He's still holding people, including children, in "fenced enclosures" (you know, cages), where they're being abused, and dying from lack of medical care.

Yeah, but he's having other people do it for him. When asked about it he can't even admit to it, and says "Oh, well, I don't know about that, ask so-and-so!"

Kinda like he has other people deliver the letters that say that someone is fired. Trump is a pussy. He's the kindergarten bully, that only picks on the crippled kids, and cries when anyone stands up to him.

[Baneth]

A bit off-topic, but it seems as if Julian Assange is getting kicked out of the Embassy in Ecuador, very soon. Also looks like there is a pre-arranged agreement with the UK on his arrest.
https://thehill.com/policy/national-...embassy-within

[Ripster42]

A bit off-topic, but it seems as if Julian Assange is getting kicked out of the Embassy in Ecuador, very soon. Also looks like there is a pre-arranged agreement with the UK on his arrest.
https://thehill.com/policy/national-...embassy-within

IIRC, there's already a sealed indictment for him in the US, and there's still an extradition treaty between the UK and the US.

[Breccia]

A bit off-topic, but it seems as if Julian Assange is getting kicked out of the Embassy in Ecuador, very soon.

The source is Assange. I'm not sure I believe it.

[Edge-]

Trump, never one to let something as trivial as death stop him, apparently decided to respond to Barbara Bush's reported characterization of him from her upcoming biography.

https://thehill.com/homenews/adminis...id-to-her-sons

“I have heard that she was nasty to me, but she should be. Look what I did to her sons,” Trump responded Thursday, according to the Times.

...

“Look, she’s the mother of somebody that I competed against. Most people thought he was going to win and he was quickly out. I hit him very hard in South Carolina,” the president said.

“Remember? He was supposed to win South Carolina and I won it in a landslide. I hit him so hard," Trump reportedly added. “That’s when his brother came to make the first speech for him,” Trump continued. “And I said, ‘What took you so long?’”

Yo Republicans, what was that you were saying about "civility"?

[Breccia]

Yo Republicans, what was that you were saying about "civility"?

Hitting the corpse of war hero John McCain wasn't enough. He had to hit the widow of Republican President George H W Bush.

[Masark]

Yo Republicans, what was that you were saying about "civility"?

They were saying that we're supposed to act civil while they go and do whatever they want.

[Benggaul]

Hitting the corpse of war hero John McCain wasn't enough. He had to hit the widow of Republican President George H W Bush.

Targets that can't hit back are his favorite. He can't take it and he can BARELY dish it out.

[Breccia]

Well, I haven't seen much recently about the National Security Lol declared on the southern borders with all three Mexican countries. I wonder what the head of ICE has to say about it?

"I don't exist."

Oh, right, he resigned in March. Of 2018. Well, let's hear what the acting head of --

"I don't exist either."

What?

President Donald Trump has withdrawn his nomination of Ron Vitiello, a longtime border official, to lead U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to a document sent to members of Congress on Thursday and obtained by NBC News.

A Department of Homeland Security official confirmed the document's veracity.

President Donald Trump on Friday morning, speaking to reporters on the White House South Lawn ahead of a trip to the U.S.-Mexico border, said that the White House is going in a "tougher direction" on a pick to lead the law enforcement agency.

"We're going in a little different direction. Ron is a good man, but we're going in a tougher direction. We want to go in a tougher direction," Trump said.

The decision about Vitiello was unexpected, and as of early Friday morning, confusion still surrounded the circumstances.

itiello had been expected to travel later Friday with Trump to Calexico, California, where the president is scheduled to visit a newly constructed section of replacement border barrier, which the White House has touted as a new section of the president's wall. It’s not clear whether he will still do so.

Huh. So, the crisis of rapists (and some, I assume, are good people) coming over the southern border, which Trump has threatened to close, is big enough to declare National Security Lol and...we have no head of ICE and haven't for over a year?

Is it really an emergency if you don't need a major role involved filled?

[cubby]

Hitting the corpse of war hero John McCain wasn't enough. He had to hit the widow of Republican President George H W Bush.

Prior to our country's leap into insanity, I was a major opponent of Bush2 (I guess I didn't know what "awful" really meant). He was always an affable guy, and while I continued to call him an idiot, he obviously had some smarts. And the Bush name still runs deep in GOP politics (you might hate Bush2 as I did/do, but Bush1 one is a very stand up guy).

Now, Trump is the epitome of idiotic, and more than likely both insane and suffering from several mental disorders. But to lash out at a prior President's MOM and former First Lady is yet another "I didn't know it could get worse" kind of move.

Bush2 might chuckle and shrug, but I wonder what he'll do because of this - in the background. Someone like the Bush Family have the power to start really pushing key GOP members away from Trump, towards the 25th and President Pence. Probably won't change anything, but still....

[Breccia]

So, what excuse did Trump give for skipping the White House Correspondents' Dinner for the everyth time in a row?

The dinner is boring and so negative that we’re going to hold a very positive rally. I like positive things, OK?

Ah. So, he's going to hold a rally in which he will only discuss positive things? Trump rallies are loaded with lies, but those lies are just as likely to be "XXX sucks because I didn't do it" as they are "XXX is awesome because I did do it". So I am calling bullshit on this. In fact, you guys want to start a pool? Number of different topics Trump talks about in a negative light? I'm putting my money on five.

The date is April 27th.

Meanwhile, the host will be Ron Chernow, author of a bazillion Presidential biographies. Chernow is expected to have some statements promoting the First Amendment. He's also much less likely to skewer and roast What He Meant Was, who Trump threw to the Wolf when he fled like a whimpering little coward last year.

[Breccia]

Trump gets in front of cameras and says the Fed should lower rates.

"Based on what evidence?"

None.

"Based on what theory?"

I think they should drop rates. I think they really slowed us down. There’s no inflation.

Yes, that's the "I don't believe it" argument in full display.

Besides a rate cut, Trump is also asking for "quantitative easing".

"That sounds familiar."

It should. This article goes into detail, but, it was used starting in 2008 because, well, 2008 happened. Short form: the central bank issues credit to major banks, who then buy loans from smaller banks, who then use that cash to offer more loans -- and at lower rates, because that's how supply and demand works -- to actual people and businesses. This basically adds purchasing power to the American people, pushing up the economy.

"That sounds like creating money out of thin air."

It is. It's a major reason the $2 trillion added to the US economy from 2008 to 2014 (the biggest easement in world history) came directly out of the Fed's balance, dropping them that same $2 trillion further in the hole. Basically, the US government buys economic growth.

While the economic recovery worked fairly well, there were side effects. Obviously, no bank can go infinitely in debt, so there's only so much this can do. Also, just like the tax cut for the rich mostly went to the rich, the easement of 2008-2014 didn't all go to the American consumer or business. Megabanks dramatically increased their share of US debtholding, the price of gold rose, and the Tea Party threatened to default on this new debt because it was fiscally irresponsible.

"...the Tea Party? You mean, like most of the rabid fanb--"

Anyhow, the easement more or less did its job to stop a major depression. Trump is asking for it now, despite how often he says the economy is doing well. Such as when he said there was no inflation just before he asked for easement. Trump is fully aware he's not getting the numbers he promised (whether he's aware that this is his own fault or not is up for debate), and is looking at measures used in 2008 to help him save face. This measure, if it happens, will be added to the already ballooning federal debt/deficit. Which is also his fault.

[cubby]

I think five is on the low end. He's got various Dem candidates to harp on(do we count them individually, or as a group?), the green new deal, the demand for his taxes, the Mueller investigation's oringes, the media, healthcare, the border, and whatever else comes up between now and then. Add in that he keeps making these rallies longer and longer and I wouldn't be surprised if he hit 10 different subjects to go on about.

I think even 10 is low. The better bet would be how long it takes him to go off script, with subsequent bets on how many times he does it.

[Belize]

I think even 10 is low. The better bet would be how long it takes him to go off script, with subsequent bets on how many times he does it.

Take a shot every time he lies about something.

[cubby]

Take a shot every time he lies about something.

I don't live close enough to an emergency room to try that.

- - - Updated - - -

In other news, multiple news outlets are reporting that Democrats have been working with White House Whistle-Blowers secretly giving up the goods on Trump's administration of fraud, waste, and misappropriation.

How would you like to be a fly on the wall when Cheeto finds that out?