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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
I guess the bright side of Trump lacking a real ideology is it makes things slightly easier for other countries who are babysitting us, since they can convince him that something rational is a good idea that also happened to be his idea first.
Granted, it also makes things easier for the Republicans/Russia to do their thing so... that's just the silver centimeter's worth of line in a raging tornado.
🏳️⚧️she/her | Vio Rhyse AlberiaWell, it could be the stress of their jobs finally getting to them.
You really want your visions to happen, people keep shooting you down for an lot of reasons. Instead of moving on, you keep trying to find a way to convince them, even if it means ignoring the critics and spewing out bullshit to get your vision to happen.
Answer no master, never the slave Carry your dreams down into the grave Every heart, like every soul, equal to break![]()
He would be deified in the same manner as Reagan, and we would never hear the end of it-any attempt to tear down his policies or 'legacy' would be regarded as literal heresy to his supporters-think of all the people today who worship the ground Reagan walked on, minus the last few shreds of sanity.
edited 24th Apr '18 10:37:23 AM by ViperMagnum357
According to the Wikipedia article's list of polls,
Trump has unseated James Buchanan as the worst president ever. Other things of interest: Reagan was in the 3rd quartile in the earlier polls, then he jumped to the 1st quartile in more recent ones, being one of the only presidents on the list to improve in public perception that much. Obama also jumped up from the 2nd to the 1st quartile once Trump stepped into office.
edited 24th Apr '18 9:41:25 AM by PushoverMediaCritic
Interesting editorial in the NY Times.
Rod Rosenstein, Robert Mueller and the Art of Survival
But Mr. Rosenstein deserves praise because of — not despite — his occasional willingness to appease Mr. Trump. Without making compromises, he would have been long gone. Many people fear that if Mr. Trump were to fire Mr. Rosenstein, it would imperil the Mueller investigation. The same has been true for almost a year; the earlier Mr. Rosenstein had been forced out of office, the worse the possible damage. A successor to Mr. Rosenstein could fire Mr. Mueller, limit the scope of his investigation, decline to approve investigative steps or eliminate public reporting requirements — not to mention interfere with the separate investigation into Mr. Trump’s longtime lawyer, Michael Cohen.
Last May, Mr. Rosenstein wrote a memo to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, “Restoring Public Confidence in the F.B.I.,” that excoriated Mr. Comey for his handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails: in particular, his July 5, 2016, news conference, in which he criticized Mrs. Clinton harshly while announcing she would not be charged, and his Oct. 28, 2016, letter in which he said the investigation would be reopened because of newly discovered emails. Mr. Sessions forwarded that memo to the president with a recommendation that Mr. Trump fire Mr. Comey, which the president did the same day.
Mr. Rosenstein immediately came under attack for writing a memo that he knew would be used to disguise Mr. Trump’s true motivation for removing Mr. Comey.
Some called for Mr. Rosenstein to quit. Benjamin Wittes, writing for the Lawfare blog, demanded that Mr. Rosenstein name a special prosecutor and then resign because of the “apparent corruption” evidenced by his “gutless” and “shocking” memo. Richard Painter, the former chief ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush and now a leading critic of Mr. Trump, said “Rosenstein got played” and should “show some self-respect and resign.”
But to what end? The resignation of an unknown official who had been in the job for just two weeks would have done little to sway public opinion. Mr. Trump surely would have fired Mr. Comey anyway. Mr. Rosenstein’s replacement could well have been more sympathetic to Mr. Trump and less eager to defend an investigation that could harm him.
Instead, Mr. Rosenstein limited his criticism of Mr. Comey to an issue — his handling of the Clinton investigation — that he knew no reasonable person would believe was the basis for the president’s decision. Indeed, the previous month, Mr. Trump said that he had “confidence” in Mr. Comey, who, he noted, had been “very, very good to Hillary Clinton.”
It isn’t clear whether Mr. Rosenstein actually believed that Mr. Comey’s campaign missteps merited his firing just as the Russia investigation was heating up, or whether he merely obliged Mr. Trump by writing the memo. Either way, he didn’t do Mr. Trump any favors. Mr. Trump soon erased any doubt as to his motive when he told NBC’s Lester Holt that he fired Mr. Comey because of “this Russia thing” and told visiting Russian officials that the firing had relieved “great pressure because of Russia.” Whether by design or not, Mr. Rosenstein had set a trap for Mr. Trump, into which the president eagerly jumped.
Eight days after Mr. Comey’s firing, Mr. Rosenstein appointed Mr. Mueller as special counsel. For the past year, Mr. Rosenstein has supervised the Mueller investigation, served as a useful buffer for Mr. Mueller and made clear that Mr. Mueller can be fired only for “good cause” and that no such cause exists. Indeed, thanks in large part to Mr. Rosenstein, the Comey firing did not, in fact, achieve Mr. Trump’s goal of sidetracking the Russia investigation.
Mr. Rosenstein has continued to appease Mr. Trump and his congressional allies in matters small and large. In June, following back-to-back stories that Mr. Mueller was specifically investigating both Mr. Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, Mr. Rosenstein warned that “Americans should be skeptical about anonymous allegations.” In November, Mr. Rosenstein praised the president’s “respect for the rule of law,” citing his appointments to the Department of Justice and F.B.I.
In December, following reports that the F.B.I. agent Peter Strzok had been removed from Mr. Mueller’s team because he had exchanged text messages criticizing Mr. Trump with a colleague with whom he was said to be having an extramarital affair, Mr. Rosenstein provided the messages to Congress.
Commenters noted that further exposure of their texts could subject them to embarrassment and ridicule; one slammed Mr. Rosenstein for an “aggressive act of betrayal.”
But Mr. Rosenstein once again had little choice and made the best of a bad situation. Normally, when a federal agency is on solid ground to resist a congressional document request, it enjoys the White House’s full support. Here, however, Mr. Trump was loudly siding with Congress, eager to dig up dirt to discredit the F.B.I. and Mr. Mueller. Caught in this pincer, Mr. Rosenstein could hope only to mitigate the damage. The department provided a broad set of texts to Congress and shared them with reporters, who could then write stories that made clear that Mr. Strzok criticized everyone, not only Mr. Trump.
The unprecedented alliance between the Republican-controlled Congress and the president against the Justice Department — which now includes calls for Mr. Rosenstein to be held in contempt of Congress or even impeached — has forced Mr. Rosenstein to share documents relevant to the criminal and counterintelligence investigations. Playing a weak hand, Mr. Rosenstein has made Congress spend time and energy to obtain documents, while aiming to live to fight another day.
Has Mr. Rosenstein always calibrated correctly the benefits of compromise against its costs? Probably not; no human could. But he has been right to look at both sides of the ledger.
Weeks before his firing, Mr. Comey disparaged Mr. Rosenstein in a private conversation with Mr. Wittes of Lawfare, saying he had “concerns” because Mr. Rosenstein is a “survivor.” In Mr. Wittes’s paraphrase, Mr. Comey feared that “you don’t get to survive that long across administrations without making compromises.”
But sometimes the best way to do justice is to compromise with those who would deny it. By surviving, Mr. Rosenstein has preserved not just his job but also the integrity of an investigation into, among much else, possible wrongdoing by the president. Like the bamboo that bends but does not break in the wind, he has shown a flexibility that may have helped preserve our institutions despite the raging storm.
edited 24th Apr '18 10:18:56 AM by megaeliz
I was kinda expecting somebody different, like someone who actually believes in psuedoscience and tries to base laws off of it.
But an competent Trump sounds like an oxymoron to me. If anything, he would make an better comedian than politician.
Answer no master, never the slave Carry your dreams down into the grave Every heart, like every soul, equal to break"Competent Trump" isn't an oxymoron. His immorality and his stupidity are separate. It's very possible for a future right-wing candidate to couch Trump's vile policy agenda behind a personality that isn't immediately unlikable and a knowledge of legislative chicanery to actually entrench Trumpist thinking.
edited 24th Apr '18 10:32:58 AM by CrimsonZephyr
"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."I dunno, if everything Trump wanted to accomplish actually was accomplished, we wouldn't have to worry about him being reelected, because his own base would turn on him before 2020. The majority of his policies are vile and stupid, with no regard to repercussions further on down the line. The base still rabidly supports him and his stupid policies because most of his most damaging ones haven't actually been implemented because the Democrats constantly do their level best to block them, so they don't experience firsthand just how idiotic and destructive those policies are. Look at the tax plan, and how many people are already turning on that.
It's why I'm so worried about Ivanka.
She's still incompetent, but so much better at hiding both that and the fact that she's still vile.
For reasons beyond my comprehension people project whatever positive trait on her. It boggles the mind, but I am genuinely worried about an Ivanka run if she and Trump make it through the presidency without impeachment.
Found a Youtube Channel with political stances you want to share? Hop on over to this page and add them.https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2018/04/24/day-460/
Day 460: Do not worry.
1/ The Senate Veterans Affairs Committee postponed Ronny Jackson's confirmation hearing following reports that Trump's nominee to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs oversaw a hostile work environment as the White House physician, allowed the overprescribing of drugs, and drank on the job. Jackson administered Trump's annual physical in January, reporting that there is "no reason whatsoever to think the president has any issues whatsoever with his thought processes," and that Trump could live to 200 years old if he had a healthier diet. (New York Times / (Washington Post)
2/ The White House stands by Ronny Jackson, saying "Jackson's record of strong, decisive leadership is exactly what's needed at VA to ensure our veterans receive the benefits they deserve." (Washington Post)
3/ Iran threatened to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty after Trump threatened to restore economic sanctions unless European allies fix what he has calls a "terrible deal" by May 12. "If they restart their nuclear program," Trump said, "they will have bigger problems than they ever had before." French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May have been coordinating potential side agreements they hope will convince Trump to remain part of the pact. (New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Reuters)
4/ The White House will host its first state dinner for France's President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte, tonight. As a candidate, Trump argued that "We shouldn't have [state] dinners at all. We should be eating a hamburger on a conference table." Melania Trump, meanwhile, has instructed her staff not to worry about the details of the dinner. "Do not worry," she wrote in an email to staff. (New York Times / NBC News)
No Democrats or press were invited to the state dinner – a departure from past dinners. Sen. John Kennedy, who was one of four members of Congress to be invited, said "it would have sent a better message, just my opinion, if we included a cross-section of Congress." (The Hill)
http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/384560-gop-senator-trump-should-have-invited-dems-to-state-dinner
5/ Robert Mueller's raid on Paul Manafort last July was to gather documents related to the Trump Tower meeting between Russian lobbyists and Manafort, Trump Jr, and Jared Kushner. A new court filing by the special counsel confirmed that Mueller's team raided Manafort's home in July 2017 to recover "Communications, records, documents, and other files involving any of the attendees of the June 9, 2016 meeting at Trump Tower, as well as Aras and Amin Agalorov." Manafort has been indicted on five counts, including conspiracy against the U.S., money laundering, and acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government, and is fighting to suppress evidence collected in the raid. (Newsweek / Politico / Bloomberg / Law and Crime)
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/04/23/mueller-prosecutors-defend-storage-locker-search-547472
6/ Republicans expect to win today's special House election in Arizona, but the race in the conservative 8th Congressional District is being looked at closely, after Democrats recently won House and Senate seats in Pennsylvania and Alabama, respectively. Trump won the district by 21 points in 2016, but many GOP operatives believe the best-case scenario a high single-digit margin of victory, which would be "a wake-up call to Republican elected officials that this is a radically different off-year," and that "this anti-Trump mood has reached new a stratosphere." (Politico / NPR)
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/04/24/arizona-special-election-house-republicans-546424
7/ Arizona state Democrats blocked Republicans from changing how the state fills vacant Senate seats. The GOP measure would ensure that John Mc Cain's seat wouldn't be on the November ballot if he leaves office related to his ongoing treatment for brain cancer. The measure would have allowed the Governor to appoint individuals to open seats – and hold them for two full years – if the seat becomes vacant within 150 days of a scheduled primary election. (Associated Press / The Hill)
https://www.apnews.com/d549654b51724cb08d3b828c65443f3e
study/ People voted for Trump because they were worried about losing their social status – not economic anxiety. A new study finds that Trump voters weren't losing income or jobs. In particular, white, Christian, and male voters felt their status in society was threatened, and that Trump would restore it. (The Atlantic / New York Times)
Notables.
Sean Hannity's real estate venture bought properties through a dealer who was involved in a criminal conspiracy to fraudulently buy foreclosed homes. Jeff Brock pleaded guilty in 2016 to federal charges of bank fraud and conspiracy for rigging foreclosure auctions between 2007 and 2012. Brock purchased 11 homes in Georgia following foreclosures and sold them to Hannity's shell company in 2012. There is no evidence that Hannity was aware of Brock's involvement in fraud. (The Guardian)
George H. W. Bush is alert but remains in intensive care. Bush was admitted to the hospital Monday morning after he contracted an infection that spread to his blood and led to sepsis. His doctor said he is "responding to treatments and appears to be recovering." (CNN)
https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/23/politics/george-hw-bush/index.html
Scott Pruitt will face two congressional hearings this week. The hearings will focus on the EPA's budget, but they will also give lawmakers an opportunity to grill Pruitt about other concerns and allegations about the agency's use of taxpayer money under Pruitt's leadership. (ABC News)
Russian hackers likely targeted more than 21 states before the 2016 election, a top Department of Homeland Security official said. (The Hill)
Not the least bit surprised.
Disgusted, but not surprised

At this point, I don't even know anymore. Don't feel like watching his Twitter feed.
Answer no master, never the slave Carry your dreams down into the grave Every heart, like every soul, equal to break