POTUS Donald Trump

[Badsmerf]

How quickly did that story where Trump uses a personal cellphone which China and Russia monitor disappear?

 

(And speaking of GOP's fake-concern for issues. I guess we took care of that caravan thing?)

They are probably being processed and going through the traditional asylum steps.... Like having their kids taken from them and being put in jail.

 

At least Jim Acosta hasn't been put in jail yet. It is fun watching how fragile Trump is. ❓Wonder if he'll only do faux news debates and faux news interviews heading into 2020?

[PseudoSABR]

 

They are probably being processed and going through the traditional asylum steps.... Like having their kids taken from them and being put in jail.

At least Jim Acosta hasn't been put in jail yet. It is fun watching how fragile Trump is. ❓Wonder if he'll only do faux news debates and faux news interviews heading into 2020?

I bet there will be no 2020 debates.

[gunnarthor]

I ****ing love the ACLU. I got to watch Lee Gelernt at a CLE a few weeks ago and he's really amazing. He argued the asylum ban case and won it, stopping Trump's utterly evil asylum proclamations. 

 

https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/20/politics/judge-asylum-restrictions/index.html

 

"Judge Jon S. Tigar of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California said that a policy announced November 9 barring asylum for immigrants who enter outside a legal check point '"irreconcilably conflicts" with immigration law and the "expressed intent of Congress."

"Whatever the scope of the President's authority, he may not rewrite the immigration laws to impose a condition that Congress has expressly forbidden," Tigar wrote, adding that asylum seekers would be put at "increased risk of violence and other harms at the border" if the administration's rule is allowed to go into effect."

 

[D. Hocking]

His official statement today starting with "America First!" rationalizing why he is going to pretend the CIA report on the murder of Khashoggi does not have much weight, is really tragic in how little he takes into account a life that was ended in torture, how Trump can be bought, the message it sends out to other foreign powers taking out a critic anywhere and anyway, and really shatters any moral standing we have in just about anything.   

 

Hey - murder by dismemberment is not good, but if money is involved, we can let it slide.     Plus, I am reluctant to turn on anyone who flatters me.  

[gunnarthor]

[TheLeviathan]

Damn....that was well-played.

[Badsmerf]

Tear gassing defenseless kids. That (the tear gassing) is what our president is proud of these days. I've heard/read some were throwing rocks.... but tear gas? I haven't read a first hand report from a journalist about what exactly happened, but shooting tear gas has to be an escalation and unnecessary use of force.

[Squirrel]

I'm slowly unfriending people on social media who think these actions are acceptable and warranted. I'm not 'friends' with them irl, just went to school with them at some point and weren't really friends with them then, either, so ... buh bye. These are the ones who cannot have a reasonable discussion and express any pov but hate and fear, don't read anything but Breitbart and InfoWars and consider them 'real' news, who for all 8 yrs while Obama was our President, complained daily how he was ruining our country and how he shouldn't be president because he wasn't born here and is a Muslim. These are the people that need to be rounded up and expelled. Let them be Pilgrims in the New World somewhere else.

[gunnarthor]

 

Tear gassing defenseless kids. That (the tear gassing) is what our president is proud of these days. I've heard/read some were throwing rocks.... but tear gas? I haven't read a first hand report from a journalist about what exactly happened, but shooting tear gas has to be an escalation and unnecessary use of force.

Yep, 20 years from now people are going to be shocked at how evil we were. Kids seeking asylum met with tear gas and closed borders. 

[Craig Arko]

I'm slowly unfriending people on social media who think these actions are acceptable and warranted. I'm not 'friends' with them irl, just went to school with them at some point and weren't really friends with them then, either, so ... buh bye. These are the ones who cannot have a reasonable discussion and express any pov but hate and fear, don't read anything but Breitbart and InfoWars and consider them 'real' news, who for all 8 yrs while Obama was our President, complained daily how he was ruining our country and how he shouldn't be president because he wasn't born here and is a Muslim. These are the people that need to be rounded up and expelled. Let them be Pilgrims in the New World somewhere else.

I’m thinking Venus would be particularly lovely this time of year.

[TheLeviathan]

I feel like smarter people, who didn't want this for political purposes, could've defused this easily.

[ashbury]

I feel like smarter people, who didn't want this for political purposes, could've defused this easily.

The corollary to "never let a good crisis go to waste" must be "never get caught short on crises."

[gunnarthor]

Looks like the last two uncalled house seats are going to go to the Dems. Democrats picked up 40 house seats. Huge blue wave and if not for the blunting of gerrymandering and voter suppression it would've been a lot more. Hopefully the voters remain engaged in two years.

 

 

https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/26/politics/democrat-california-house-race/index.html

[PseudoSABR]

Oh and this story

 

Manafort held secret talks with Assange in Ecuadorian embassy

[gunnarthor]

 

Oh and this story

 

Manafort held secret talks with Assange in Ecuadorian embassy

That Steele Dossier is starting to look pretty accurate. 

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

Oh and this story

 

Manafort held secret talks with Assange in Ecuadorian embassy

I'm champing at the bit to hear Mueller say ANYTHING publicly. We can't be that far away from more announcements.

 

And the blowback in the Senate will be quite the spectacle. There are enough vulnerable Republicans in 2020 that I think preventing Mueller from doing his job is going to be a tough task for the GOP.

 

And if they even try, things could blow up spectacularly.

[Badsmerf]

Not only that, but Trump and Manafort were able to corroborate their stories.... and Trump already submitted his answers to Mueller. Trump is screwed. Manafort being called out so strongly for lying, leads me to believe Trump lied too. The House will impeach him. The Senate will be forced to take a stance, and republicans will be in a no win situation.

 

Trump will start lashing out against Mueller with a fervor we've yet to see. The discredit campaign has been going on for a long time already.

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

Not only that, but Trump and Manafort were able to corroborate their stories.... and Trump already submitted his answers to Mueller. Trump is screwed. Manafort being called out so strongly for lying, leads me to believe Trump lied too. The House will impeach him. The Senate will be forced to take a stance, and republicans will be in a no win situation.

Trump will start lashing out against Mueller with a fervor we've yet to see. The discredit campaign has been going on for a long time already.

I'm wary of impeachment talk. It should literally be the last step in the process and only happen when the evidence is so overwhelming that it can't be denied (some will still deny it but you just need independents and socially-conscious republicans on board, not the fringe nutters).

Clinton basically lied under oath and when impeachment was on the board, he actually became more popular.

 

Democrats should tread lightly - very lightly - around this subject, especially when it's almost entirely speculation.

[PseudoSABR]

I think impeachment is a bad play.  I hope he's the GOP candidate in 2020.

[Badsmerf]

If he lied under oath, and the Mueller report is incriminating, he absolutely should be impeached. keeping a president that is a traitor for political gain isn't an option for me.

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

If he lied under oath, and the Mueller report is incriminating, he absolutely should be impeached. keeping a president that is a traitor for political gain isn't an option for me.

It's not about political gain, it's about actually getting the guy out of office if he's guilty of a crime.

 

Pull the trigger too early on that process and things can easily backfire.

[Squirrel]

 

I'm wary of impeachment talk. It should literally be the last step in the process and only happen when the evidence is so overwhelming that it can't be denied (some will still deny it but you just need independents and socially-conscious republicans on board, not the fringe nutters).

Clinton basically lied under oath and when impeachment was on the board, he actually became more popular.

 

Democrats should tread lightly - very lightly - around this subject, especially when it's almost entirely speculation.

I think in the Clinton case he became more popular because of what he lied about. After YEARS and millions of taxpayer dollars for not finding anything else to impeach him over. And I still wonder if there was some degree of planning around it knowing his, ahem, 'habits.' (But I still agree he needed his slap, even if it was a trap set for him.)

 

However, I agree ... we need to make sure the ducks are there and in a row before doing that ... and tread very carefully. But I think you are already seeing the independents and socially-conscious and educated conservatives jumping ship. That was the trend in this election ... the conservative, yet aware and educated, suburbs turned blue, and if not completely blue, certainly no longer red.

[Squirrel]

Oh, and I want them to take the whole damn lot of them down with him ... the entire Trump family, Pence, McConnell and Ryan ... although to do that would probably cause too big of a rift that may do more harm than good ... but ... we aren't talking a simple crime here ... we are talking TRAITOROUS CRIMES.

[PseudoSABR]

Now this makes me livid.

 

[D. Hocking]

This administration is a toxic combination of evil, ineptitude, and laziness.  

 

I will give Melania credit for her Handmaiden Tale inspired Christmas decorations.

 

[biggentleben]

 

Now this makes me livid.

 

 

Yet, it took over 3 months for my wife (a school teacher at the time who had to go through intensive vetting every year) and I (after just leaving a job working as a juvenile jailer where I had to go through federal background checks three times in 15 months working in the job) to be cleared in our backgrounds in order to foster abused and neglected children. Sounds about right...

[D. Hocking]

Was thinking this might fit in this thread, since it is Trump's cabinet, but isn't this a little disingenuous since Saudi Arabia is doing the actual bombing?

 

@SecPompeo

Iran’s regime has no interest in easing Yemeni suffering; the mullahs don’t even care for ordinary Iranians. Saudi Arabia has invested billions to relieve suffering in #Yemen. Iran has invested zero.

 

 

[Musk21]

Not surprisingly, the Senate refused to allow a vote to protect Mueller:

 

Bill to protect Robert Mueller not allowed a vote on the Senate floor. Senators Flake, Coons, & Booker attempted to force the vote by unanimous consent but it was blocked by Republican Senator Mike Lee. Senate Majority Leader McConnell has argued bill “not necessary”.

 

We keep hearing that firing Mueller would be a 'red line,' but I have seen nothing to indicate that.  I don't think anything happens to Trump regardless of what Mueller uncovers.

 

[Badsmerf]

Not surprisingly, the Senate refused to allow a vote to protect Mueller:

 

Bill to protect Robert Mueller not allowed a vote on the Senate floor. Senators Flake, Coons, & Booker attempted to force the vote by unanimous consent but it was blocked by Republican Senator Mike Lee. Senate Majority Leader McConnell has argued bill “not necessary”.

 

We keep hearing that firing Mueller would be a 'red line,' but I have seen nothing to indicate that. I don't think anything happens to Trump regardless of what Mueller uncovers.

Flake is sticking to his guns. Voting down judges in committee and on the floor today. He says he'll continue voting against every judge until Mueller is protected.

[gunnarthor]

 

Flake is sticking to his guns. Voting down judges in committee and on the floor today. He says he'll continue voting against every judge until Mueller is protected.

Man, I can't say how many times I've held out hope that Flake would do something good and then watch it not happen. We'll see how long he sticks to his guns, this time.