Trump Dump: Internal Policy (Thread I)

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Re: Trump Dump: Internal Policy (Thread I)

Post by Dominus Atheos »

NYT article:
In private, three administration officials conceded that they could not publicly articulate their most compelling — and honest — defense of the president: that Mr. Trump, a hasty and indifferent reader of printed briefing materials, simply did not possess the interest or knowledge of the granular details of intelligence gathering to leak specific sources and methods of intelligence gathering that would do harm to United States allies.
That is awesome. "Trump can't say or leak anything too damaging because he's too stupid to know anything like that!" :lol:
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Re: Trump Dump: Internal Policy (Thread I)

Post by Flagg »

Dominus Atheos wrote:NYT article:
In private, three administration officials conceded that they could not publicly articulate their most compelling — and honest — defense of the president: that Mr. Trump, a hasty and indifferent reader of printed briefing materials, simply did not possess the interest or knowledge of the granular details of intelligence gathering to leak specific sources and methods of intelligence gathering that would do harm to United States allies.
That is awesome. "Trump can't say or leak anything too damaging because he's too stupid to know anything like that!" :lol:
It may well be true, too. Which is awesome because President Pussygrabber's flaks are now literally saying he's too dumb to know WTF he's talking about at any given moment (something any slightly perceptive 3 year old on cold medicine would figure out pretty damned quick).

So how is he fit to be the President? Oh, they're gonna send me Emails with a detailed explanation. Any minute now. Gonna show up in the old inbox any time now. Just need to be patient... :lol:

I'm gonna feel really stupid when I wake up from this coma. :lol:
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Re: Trump Dump: Internal Policy (Thread I)

Post by trekky0623 »

I miss the days when I could go a whole day without some political scandal. The past 5 days have been insane.

The director of the FBI leading an investigation into the Administration gets fired at the behest of the Attorney General who recused himself from said investigation. After the White House defended the move as coming from the Attorney General's office, the president gets on TV and says, no, he was going to fire Comey anyway. Not only that, he asked Comey if he was being investigated. The president then gets on Twitter and threatens Comey with secret recordings of their conversations.

Then the president has a meeting with Russian officials where he apparently blabs about intelligence that may compromise a source, damaging the entirety of the US intelligence service by diminishing its reputation of keeping secret info secret. The White House says bullshit, and then the president gets on Twitter again and defends his right to tell the Russians whatever they want.

Then we find out that Trump also asked Comey to drop the Flynn investigation, and not only that, but Comey was keeping memos of his meetings with Trump.

I mean what the eff is even going on anymore.
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Re: Trump Dump: Internal Policy (Thread I)

Post by Simon_Jester »

What is going on is simple.

Trump is an ongoing dumpster fire of a president. The individual pops, crackles, and flares of extra fire from the dumpster are purely incidental. He is fractally corrupt, and fractally incompetent. Zoom in on any individual act of his corruption and incompetence, and you will see the same patterns of corruption and incompetence repeated in miniature. This holds true from the highest-level cabinet appointments down unto the way ice cream is served at his dinner table.

He is incapable of acting in a way that serves anyone else's interests, and he is barely capable of serving his own interests in any capacity other than "professional con man." He's not salvageable or redeemable, he cannot be worked with or worked around. He is just plain a dumpster fire.

Until enough Republicans grasp this to remove him from office, or until enough voters grasp this to elect enough Democrats to remove him from office, expect perpetual fractal corruption and stupidity from the White House. The rabbit hole does not have a bottom. Under Dubya, it had a bottom- but not under Trump.
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Re: Trump Dump: Internal Policy (Thread I)

Post by Flagg »

Simon_Jester wrote:What is going on is simple.

Trump is an ongoing dumpster fire of a president. The individual pops, crackles, and flares of extra fire from the dumpster are purely incidental. He is fractally corrupt, and fractally incompetent. Zoom in on any individual act of his corruption and incompetence, and you will see the same patterns of corruption and incompetence repeated in miniature. This holds true from the highest-level cabinet appointments down unto the way ice cream is served at his dinner table.

He is incapable of acting in a way that serves anyone else's interests, and he is barely capable of serving his own interests in any capacity other than "professional con man." He's not salvageable or redeemable, he cannot be worked with or worked around. He is just plain a dumpster fire.

Until enough Republicans grasp this to remove him from office, or until enough voters grasp this to elect enough Democrats to remove him from office, expect perpetual fractal corruption and stupidity from the White House. The rabbit hole does not have a bottom. Under Dubya, it had a bottom- but not under Trump.
Fuck that, I don't want the Democrats removing him from office. Then we get President Pence who seems like a much more competent leader who will further the Republican agenda.

The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire. Don't get any water let that motherfucker burn.

This child molesting, rapist, con artist, Manchurian candidate is the gift that keeps on giving. Let the Rethuglicans boot him out after he guts them and makes the chances of a Republican in Alabama getting elected as fucking dog catcher impossible. Yeah, he's doing a ton of damage, and likely has already done some that's irreparable. Let this country at least get a positive out of it by carving out the cancerous GOP.
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Re: Trump Dump: Internal Policy (Thread I)

Post by houser2112 »

Flagg wrote:Fuck that, I don't want the Democrats removing him from office. Then we get President Pence who seems like a much more competent leader who will further the Republican agenda.
I'm torn on this. Do we want an idiot loose cannon president who can't get anything done and doesn't seem to have a clear policy in many areas, or a competent president that has policies we know are poisonous? Unless we can paint Pence with the same impeachment brush as we do Trump, I'm not sure I want to remove him from office, either. There's also the downticket effect that a disaster Trump presidency will have during the midterms and next presidential election.
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Re: Trump Dump: Internal Policy (Thread I)

Post by Gandalf »

houser2112 wrote:
Flagg wrote:Fuck that, I don't want the Democrats removing him from office. Then we get President Pence who seems like a much more competent leader who will further the Republican agenda.
I'm torn on this. Do we want an idiot loose cannon president who can't get anything done and doesn't seem to have a clear policy in many areas, or a competent president that has policies we know are poisonous? Unless we can paint Pence with the same impeachment brush as we do Trump, I'm not sure I want to remove him from office, either. There's also the downticket effect that a disaster Trump presidency will have during the midterms and next presidential election.
Wasn't that the old argument against getting rid of Bush, for fear Cheney would rule with an iron fist, devouring the still beating hearts of the young?

If Trump is to be impeached, then it should be clear that the same mechanism can be brought against Pence if he breaks any laws. After all, Bush committed all sorts of crimes, including those for which people were hung at the Nuremberg trials, and he walked free because nobody wanted to convict. Now Trump has a wonderfully free hand because of that Bush precedent.
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Re: Trump Dump: Internal Policy (Thread I)

Post by Elheru Aran »

If history provides any guide...

IIRC, Gerald Ford's most objectionable act in office was pardoning Nixon. Otherwise, he was in an environment that was suddenly actively hostile to Republicans after the late debacle, and he knew it. As such, he was a fairly low-key President who mostly attempted to guide America through the beginnings of a recession, soften its international stance, and actually was fairly decent all-around.

But then, Ford was an Eisenhower-era Republican. That's a horse of a completely fucking different color.
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Re: Trump Dump: Internal Policy (Thread I)

Post by Flagg »

Gandalf wrote:
houser2112 wrote:
Flagg wrote:Fuck that, I don't want the Democrats removing him from office. Then we get President Pence who seems like a much more competent leader who will further the Republican agenda.
I'm torn on this. Do we want an idiot loose cannon president who can't get anything done and doesn't seem to have a clear policy in many areas, or a competent president that has policies we know are poisonous? Unless we can paint Pence with the same impeachment brush as we do Trump, I'm not sure I want to remove him from office, either. There's also the downticket effect that a disaster Trump presidency will have during the midterms and next presidential election.
Wasn't that the old argument against getting rid of Bush, for fear Cheney would rule with an iron fist, devouring the still beating hearts of the young?

If Trump is to be impeached, then it should be clear that the same mechanism can be brought against Pence if he breaks any laws. After all, Bush committed all sorts of crimes, including those for which people were hung at the Nuremberg trials, and he walked free because nobody wanted to convict. Now Trump has a wonderfully free hand because of that Bush precedent.
Yeah, this would be the polar opposite of that, if that had even been remotely true.

The situation we have now is that Trump is a political dunce (and we're not even getting into his total lack of a moral center) who's never held public office before and is shitting the bed hourly, while Pence is a politician who IMO could get some shit done. Shit that no one to the left of Zombie Scalia ever wants done. The only way I want Trump leaving the White House is if he goes to jail, directly to jail, do not pass go, do not collect $200.
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Re: Trump Dump: Internal Policy (Thread I)

Post by Flagg »

Elheru Aran wrote:If history provides any guide...

IIRC, Gerald Ford's most objectionable act in office was pardoning Nixon. Otherwise, he was in an environment that was suddenly actively hostile to Republicans after the late debacle, and he knew it. As such, he was a fairly low-key President who mostly attempted to guide America through the beginnings of a recession, soften its international stance, and actually was fairly decent all-around.

But then, Ford was an Eisenhower-era Republican. That's a horse of a completely fucking different color.
Ford was also in the awkward position of not getting a single vote from the American public putting him in the White House, so even though I wasn't alive at the time, I'd imagine that there was an air of illegitimacy about his Presidency.

And even though the beltway media opened the bottom half of his casket when he finally croaked and sucked his lifeless cock over the terrible precedent he set in pardoning Nixon, it was incredibly unpopular when it was done, and rightly so.
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Re: Trump Dump: Internal Policy (Thread I)

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Re: Trump Dump: Internal Policy (Thread I)

Post by FireNexus »

Flagg wrote:And even though the beltway media opened the bottom half of his casket when he finally croaked and sucked his lifeless cock over the terrible precedent he set in pardoning Nixon, it was incredibly unpopular when it was done, and rightly so.
Continuing to fight that battle after it was won would've been stupid. There is no way Nixon could have gotten a fair trial with the profile of that story anyway, and by pardoning him you encourage future pops to actually resign rather than going through the bullshit of an impeachment when the outcome is likely to be bad for them.

Indicting Nixon would have done no good, and caused a circus that wasn't needed. He was disgraced, removed from office. His name became synonymous with "corrupt". He wasn't in stripes in a cage, but who cares? He wasn't going to be.
I had a Bill Maher quote here. But fuck him for his white privelegy "joke".

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Re: Trump Dump: Internal Policy (Thread I)

Post by Civil War Man »

Buckle up, we're in for a wild ride.

Former FBI Director Robert Mueller named Special Counsel in investigation into Trump-Russia probe
The Justice Department on Wednesday named former FBI Director Robert Mueller as special counsel in the investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election and possible collusion between Trump campaign associates and Russian operatives.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said he made this decision out of the enormous “public interest” in this investigation.

“Based upon the unique circumstances, the public interest requires me to place this investigation under the authority of a person who exercises a degree of independence from the normal chain of command,” Rosenstein said in a statement.

“A special counsel is necessary in order for the American people to have full confidence in the outcome. Our nation is grounded on the rule of law, and the Public must be assured that government officials administer the law fairly.”

Notably, the statement says the investigation will focus on both Russia’s election interference and “related matters.”

The White House was only given thirty minutes notice that a special counsel would assume control of the case, ABC reported.

In a statement, President Donald Trump said he looked forward to the investigation ending “quickly.”

“As I have stated many times, a thorough investigation will confirm what we already know – there was no collusion between my campaign and any foreign entity,” the statement read. “I look forward to this matter concluding quickly. In the meantime, I will never stop fighting for the people and the issues that matter most to the future of our country.”

This remarkable development in the Russia probe arrives one day after the New York Times reported that in February, President Donald Trump asked then-FBI Director James Comey to kill the bureau’s investigation into fired national security adviser Michael Flynn. The White House has denied the Times’ story, which was based around on a memo Comey reportedly wrote at the time detailing his conversation with the President.

That bombshell, which legal scholars say could be read as an attempt to obstruct justice, fueled calls for both an independent commission and special counsel to investigate Russia’s election meddling and Trump’s associates. A handful of Republican lawmakers joined their Democratic colleagues who’ve been calling for an independent commission and/or special counsel for months. The Trump White House and the President’s allies on Capitol Hill have argued probes already underway in Congress and by the FBI were sufficient.

Rosenstein assumed control of the FBI investigation when he was confirmed in April, given that Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the Russia probe after failing to disclose conversations he had with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. last year.

Mueller, who served as FBI director from 2001-2013, now assumes control of that probe. He will resign from his position at law firm WilmerHale to work on this investigation full-time.

News of his appointment was met with rapid, near-universal applause from both sides of the aisle, with lawmakers commending his legal acumen and sterling reputation in Washington, D.C.

“Mueller is a great selection,” House Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) wrote on Twitter. “Impeccable credentials. Should be widely accepted.”

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, called Mueller’s appointment “a good first step” to rooting out the extent of Russia’s meddling and possible collusion with Trump associates.

“There’s no better person who could be asked to perform this function,” she said in a statement.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) concurred, calling Mueller “exactly the right kind of individual for this job.”

“I now have significantly greater confidence that the investigation will follow the facts wherever they lead.”

Read the full DOJ statement and Rosenstein’s order announcing Mueller’s announcement below.
WASHINGTON – Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein today announced the appointment of former Department of Justice official and FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III to serve as Special Counsel to oversee the previously-confirmed FBI investigation of Russian government efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election and related matters.

“In my capacity as acting Attorney General, I determined that it is in the public interest for me to exercise my authority and appoint a Special Counsel to assume responsibility for this matter,” said Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein. “My decision is not a finding that crimes have been committed or that any prosecution is warranted. I have made no such determination. What I have determined is that based upon the unique circumstances, the public interest requires me to place this investigation under the authority of a person who exercises a degree of independence from the normal chain of command.”

Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein added, “Each year, the career professionals of the U.S. Department of Justice conduct tens of thousands of criminal investigations and handle countless other matters without regard to partisan political considerations. I have great confidence in the independence and integrity of our people and our processes. Considering the unique circumstances of this matter, however, I determined that a Special Counsel is necessary in order for the American people to have full confidence in the outcome. Our nation is grounded on the rule of law, and the public must be assured that government officials administer the law fairly. Special Counsel Mueller will have all appropriate resources to conduct a thorough and complete investigation, and I am confident that he will follow the facts, apply the law and reach a just result.”

Special Counsel Mueller has agreed to resign from his private law firm in order to avoid any conflicts of interest with firm clients or attorneys.
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Re: Trump Dump: Internal Policy (Thread I)

Post by FireNexus »

houser2112 wrote:
Flagg wrote:Fuck that, I don't want the Democrats removing him from office. Then we get President Pence who seems like a much more competent leader who will further the Republican agenda.
I'm torn on this. Do we want an idiot loose cannon president who can't get anything done and doesn't seem to have a clear policy in many areas, or a competent president that has policies we know are poisonous? Unless we can paint Pence with the same impeachment brush as we do Trump, I'm not sure I want to remove him from office, either. There's also the downticket effect that a disaster Trump presidency will have during the midterms and next presidential election.
Competent. Trump can potentially do damage up to and including ending human civilization, and demonstrably lacks the self control to properly handle a crisis that can lead there. No matter how poisonous Pence's policies, the world will be here at the end of his term.
I had a Bill Maher quote here. But fuck him for his white privelegy "joke".

All the rest? Too long.
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Re: Trump Dump: Internal Policy (Thread I)

Post by FireNexus »

Civil War Man wrote:Buckle up, we're in for a wild ride.
Anyone who hasn't buckled up by now is already being scraped off the pavement.
I had a Bill Maher quote here. But fuck him for his white privelegy "joke".

All the rest? Too long.
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Re: Trump Dump: Internal Policy (Thread I)

Post by Gandalf »

FireNexus wrote:Continuing to fight that battle after it was won would've been stupid. There is no way Nixon could have gotten a fair trial with the profile of that story anyway, and by pardoning him you encourage future pops to actually resign rather than going through the bullshit of an impeachment when the outcome is likely to be bad for them.

Indicting Nixon would have done no good, and caused a circus that wasn't needed. He was disgraced, removed from office. His name became synonymous with "corrupt". He wasn't in stripes in a cage, but who cares? He wasn't going to be.
On the other hand, the American people (and worldwide victims of US policy) would have seen the US system functioning as needed, holding its leaders accountable. While it's great for a country to have laws, they must on occasion be seen to work.
Elheru Aran wrote:IIRC, Gerald Ford's most objectionable act in office was pardoning Nixon. Otherwise, he was in an environment that was suddenly actively hostile to Republicans after the late debacle, and he knew it. As such, he was a fairly low-key President who mostly attempted to guide America through the beginnings of a recession, soften its international stance, and actually was fairly decent all-around.

But then, Ford was an Eisenhower-era Republican. That's a horse of a completely fucking different color.
He gave vital aid to Indonesia in their invasion of East Timor. The outcome was a genocide.
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Re: Trump Dump: Internal Policy (Thread I)

Post by Flagg »

FireNexus wrote:
Flagg wrote:And even though the beltway media opened the bottom half of his casket when he finally croaked and sucked his lifeless cock over the terrible precedent he set in pardoning Nixon, it was incredibly unpopular when it was done, and rightly so.
Continuing to fight that battle after it was won would've been stupid. There is no way Nixon could have gotten a fair trial with the profile of that story anyway, and by pardoning him you encourage future pops to actually resign rather than going through the bullshit of an impeachment when the outcome is likely to be bad for them.

Indicting Nixon would have done no good, and caused a circus that wasn't needed. He was disgraced, removed from office. His name became synonymous with "corrupt". He wasn't in stripes in a cage, but who cares? He wasn't going to be.
What a load of shit.

You know what the lesson learned by future corrupt Presidents like Reagan, Bush, and Bush was from Ford pardoning Nixon?

Do a better job covering it up and delay, delay, delay, so that by the time enough evidence is gathered for impeachment or resignation and prosecution, the American people are sick of hearing about it and the political will to take it where it needs to be taken is gone because another administration is in office and needs all of the political capital it can get to move its agenda forward.
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Re: Trump Dump: Internal Policy (Thread I)

Post by Flagg »

Civil War Man wrote:Buckle up, we're in for a wild ride.

Former FBI Director Robert Mueller named Special Counsel in investigation into Trump-Russia probe
The Justice Department on Wednesday named former FBI Director Robert Mueller as special counsel in the investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election and possible collusion between Trump campaign associates and Russian operatives.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said he made this decision out of the enormous “public interest” in this investigation.

“Based upon the unique circumstances, the public interest requires me to place this investigation under the authority of a person who exercises a degree of independence from the normal chain of command,” Rosenstein said in a statement.

“A special counsel is necessary in order for the American people to have full confidence in the outcome. Our nation is grounded on the rule of law, and the Public must be assured that government officials administer the law fairly.”

Notably, the statement says the investigation will focus on both Russia’s election interference and “related matters.”

The White House was only given thirty minutes notice that a special counsel would assume control of the case, ABC reported.

In a statement, President Donald Trump said he looked forward to the investigation ending “quickly.”

“As I have stated many times, a thorough investigation will confirm what we already know – there was no collusion between my campaign and any foreign entity,” the statement read. “I look forward to this matter concluding quickly. In the meantime, I will never stop fighting for the people and the issues that matter most to the future of our country.”

This remarkable development in the Russia probe arrives one day after the New York Times reported that in February, President Donald Trump asked then-FBI Director James Comey to kill the bureau’s investigation into fired national security adviser Michael Flynn. The White House has denied the Times’ story, which was based around on a memo Comey reportedly wrote at the time detailing his conversation with the President.

That bombshell, which legal scholars say could be read as an attempt to obstruct justice, fueled calls for both an independent commission and special counsel to investigate Russia’s election meddling and Trump’s associates. A handful of Republican lawmakers joined their Democratic colleagues who’ve been calling for an independent commission and/or special counsel for months. The Trump White House and the President’s allies on Capitol Hill have argued probes already underway in Congress and by the FBI were sufficient.

Rosenstein assumed control of the FBI investigation when he was confirmed in April, given that Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the Russia probe after failing to disclose conversations he had with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. last year.

Mueller, who served as FBI director from 2001-2013, now assumes control of that probe. He will resign from his position at law firm WilmerHale to work on this investigation full-time.

News of his appointment was met with rapid, near-universal applause from both sides of the aisle, with lawmakers commending his legal acumen and sterling reputation in Washington, D.C.

“Mueller is a great selection,” House Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) wrote on Twitter. “Impeccable credentials. Should be widely accepted.”

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, called Mueller’s appointment “a good first step” to rooting out the extent of Russia’s meddling and possible collusion with Trump associates.

“There’s no better person who could be asked to perform this function,” she said in a statement.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) concurred, calling Mueller “exactly the right kind of individual for this job.”

“I now have significantly greater confidence that the investigation will follow the facts wherever they lead.”

Read the full DOJ statement and Rosenstein’s order announcing Mueller’s announcement below.
WASHINGTON – Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein today announced the appointment of former Department of Justice official and FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III to serve as Special Counsel to oversee the previously-confirmed FBI investigation of Russian government efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election and related matters.

“In my capacity as acting Attorney General, I determined that it is in the public interest for me to exercise my authority and appoint a Special Counsel to assume responsibility for this matter,” said Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein. “My decision is not a finding that crimes have been committed or that any prosecution is warranted. I have made no such determination. What I have determined is that based upon the unique circumstances, the public interest requires me to place this investigation under the authority of a person who exercises a degree of independence from the normal chain of command.”

Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein added, “Each year, the career professionals of the U.S. Department of Justice conduct tens of thousands of criminal investigations and handle countless other matters without regard to partisan political considerations. I have great confidence in the independence and integrity of our people and our processes. Considering the unique circumstances of this matter, however, I determined that a Special Counsel is necessary in order for the American people to have full confidence in the outcome. Our nation is grounded on the rule of law, and the public must be assured that government officials administer the law fairly. Special Counsel Mueller will have all appropriate resources to conduct a thorough and complete investigation, and I am confident that he will follow the facts, apply the law and reach a just result.”

Special Counsel Mueller has agreed to resign from his private law firm in order to avoid any conflicts of interest with firm clients or attorneys.
Not. Good. Enough. We need at least a 3 person team of Special PROSECUTORS to be looking at this half aborted stillbirth of an Administration from several different angles.
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Re: Trump Dump: Internal Policy (Thread I)

Post by Flagg »

FireNexus wrote:
houser2112 wrote:
Flagg wrote:Fuck that, I don't want the Democrats removing him from office. Then we get President Pence who seems like a much more competent leader who will further the Republican agenda.
I'm torn on this. Do we want an idiot loose cannon president who can't get anything done and doesn't seem to have a clear policy in many areas, or a competent president that has policies we know are poisonous? Unless we can paint Pence with the same impeachment brush as we do Trump, I'm not sure I want to remove him from office, either. There's also the downticket effect that a disaster Trump presidency will have during the midterms and next presidential election.
Competent. Trump can potentially do damage up to and including ending human civilization, and demonstrably lacks the self control to properly handle a crisis that can lead there. No matter how poisonous Pence's policies, the world will be here at the end of his term.
Where did you buy your crystal ball? Every POTUS "can potentially do damage up to and including ending human civilization". You assume that other nuclear powers are somehow unaware of the fact that President Pussygrabber is an erratic drooling moron and will deal with him the same as they would a real person instead of a half shaved orangutan in a suit. You also assume that no situation would arise with a President Pence that could or would result in the exchange of enough nuclear missiles across the globe to end human civilization.
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Re: Trump Dump: Internal Policy (Thread I)

Post by Simon_Jester »

I get the feeling that Rosenstein's decision to appoint Mueller is in part a way of giving The Donald a good hard kick in the pants. A retaliatory strike for trying to use Rosenstein's reputation like a paper towel to wipe up the mess they created with the Comey firing.

"Make me look like a hack who writes toady yes-man memos to give you bureaucratic cover for doing shady stuff to obstruct justice, will you? Well here, get a load of THIS!"
Flagg wrote:Not. Good. Enough. We need at least a 3 person team of Special PROSECUTORS to be looking at this half aborted stillbirth of an Administration from several different angles.
1) "Special counsel" and "special prosecutor" are functionally identical job titles. Getting obsessive over the job title is silly.

2) Regardless of how many people are working on this, one person has to be in charge of the investigation. Multiple independent investigations is not a good thing, unless they coordinate so well and share information so thoroughly that for all practical purposes they're one big investigation.

You're reacting as if you think Robert Mueller will behave like a private eye who's investigating everything all by himself like a Humphrey Bogart movie character or something. He's going to have a staff, he's going to have people working for him. Plenty of people. Mueller's just the man in charge of the group of people who will be investigating this.
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Re: Trump Dump: Internal Policy (Thread I)

Post by Thanas »

I wish I could share the confidence over Mueller's appointment, but his handling of the Deflategate issue makes me feel nauseous. He left himself up to a lot of stupid criticism on that one, criticism that made no sense and in the end his findings were held to be correct but.....he committed so many tactical errors in deflategate that fanatical or partisan people found enough fodder to pick his argument apart. So I really hope his skill of crafting an argument have improved exponentially over the past year because his previous finding was not that great.
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A decision must be made in the life of every nation at the very moment when the grasp of the enemy is at its throat. Then, it seems that the only way to survive is to use the means of the enemy, to rest survival upon what is expedient, to look the other way. Well, the answer to that is 'survival as what'? A country isn't a rock. It's not an extension of one's self. It's what it stands for. It's what it stands for when standing for something is the most difficult! - Chief Judge Haywood
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The Romulan Republic
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Re: Trump Dump: Internal Policy (Thread I)

Post by The Romulan Republic »

The most important thing is that we have someone who's trusted not to be a partisan operative, I think. Mueller, as someone who served under both Bush Jr. and Obama, seems like he might be a good choice in that respect, though I admit I'm not familiar enough with his history to say for certain.
"I know its easy to be defeatist here because nothing has seemingly reigned Trump in so far. But I will say this: every asshole succeeds until finally, they don't. Again, 18 months before he resigned, Nixon had a sky-high approval rating of 67%. Harvey Weinstein was winning Oscars until one day, he definitely wasn't."-John Oliver

"The greatest enemy of a good plan is the dream of a perfect plan."-General Von Clauswitz, describing my opinion of Bernie or Busters and third partiers in a nutshell.

I SUPPORT A NATIONAL GENERAL STRIKE TO REMOVE TRUMP FROM OFFICE.
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Re: Trump Dump: Internal Policy (Thread I)

Post by Thanas »

The Romulan Republic wrote:The most important thing is that we have someone who's trusted not to be a partisan operative, I think. Mueller, as someone who served under both Bush Jr. and Obama, seems like he might be a good choice in that respect, though I admit I'm not familiar enough with his history to say for certain.
They couldn't have found somebody better than somebody who was made a laughingstock by NFL fans of all people?



**************************

In other news, Trump asked Comey to persecute journalists for no crimes being committed. Because of course he did.

Winning
By now, everyone has heard the blockbuster news that Trump allegedly asked the FBI director, James Comey, to drop the Michael Flynn investigation. But buried deep inside in the the New York Times story was another bombshell that was just as important: Trump reportedly urged Comey to jail journalists who publish classified information.

Tied to this disturbing news was another story that didn’t get enough attention last week amongst the chaos: the Washington Post reported multiple times that part of the reason Trump fired Comey was that he was incensed that the FBI was not being more aggressive in investigating leaks coming out of his administration. Apparently, Trump was even insisting at one point that the FBI needed to go after leaks about non-classified information (which is not a crime by anyone’s standards).
Whoever says "education does not matter" can try ignorance
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A decision must be made in the life of every nation at the very moment when the grasp of the enemy is at its throat. Then, it seems that the only way to survive is to use the means of the enemy, to rest survival upon what is expedient, to look the other way. Well, the answer to that is 'survival as what'? A country isn't a rock. It's not an extension of one's self. It's what it stands for. It's what it stands for when standing for something is the most difficult! - Chief Judge Haywood
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Re: Trump Dump: Internal Policy (Thread I)

Post by The Romulan Republic »

In other words, he fired Comey for behaving like an American law enforcement official is supposed to behave. As opposed to how Russian or Turkish law enforcement behaves.
"I know its easy to be defeatist here because nothing has seemingly reigned Trump in so far. But I will say this: every asshole succeeds until finally, they don't. Again, 18 months before he resigned, Nixon had a sky-high approval rating of 67%. Harvey Weinstein was winning Oscars until one day, he definitely wasn't."-John Oliver

"The greatest enemy of a good plan is the dream of a perfect plan."-General Von Clauswitz, describing my opinion of Bernie or Busters and third partiers in a nutshell.

I SUPPORT A NATIONAL GENERAL STRIKE TO REMOVE TRUMP FROM OFFICE.
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Re: Trump Dump: Internal Policy (Thread I)

Post by Dominus Atheos »

Thanas wrote:I wish I could share the confidence over Mueller's appointment, but his handling of the Deflategate issue makes me feel nauseous. He left himself up to a lot of stupid criticism on that one, criticism that made no sense and in the end his findings were held to be correct but.....he committed so many tactical errors in deflategate that fanatical or partisan people found enough fodder to pick his argument apart. So I really hope his skill of crafting an argument have improved exponentially over the past year because his previous finding was not that great.
Err, Mueller didn't investigate deflategate, he investigated the ray rice domestic abuse scandal. And I was under the impression that the Mueller Report was good, It's just that no one can decide which side it's good for.
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