Sound The TRUMPets! A Thread for Presidential Pondering 2016-2020(?)

[Zeus]

GOP fiscal "policy":

1) cut taxes (that they pay)
2) increase spending (that they like)
3) claim credit for introducing virtuous long-term austerity
4) blame Dems for the resulting fiscal train wreck

A fine example of how the waning American empire rots from within.

A true win-win.

So you say.

[drogulus]

     Trump is trying to make his proposed missile strike as compatible with his view of TrumPutin as he can, and by super warning Putin and the Syrians (not merely warning them like the last time), he reveals his real goal to do as little as possible.

"Our relationship with Russia is worse now than it has ever been, and that includes the Cold War. There is no reason for this. Russia needs us to help with their economy, something that would be very easy to do, and we need all nations to work together. Stop the arms race?"

     There is a reason for this, all of TrumPutin is the reason. We can't obscure the fact that Russia is fighting on the side of a regime we are fighting. Trump is transparent about this. He can't help revealing his aims on Syria and Russia any more than he can with Mueller.

[BasilValentine]

In other news: Contemporaneous handwritten notes by Dana Boente, just released after their "mistaken" top secret classification was lifted, have backed up word for word James Comey's testimony before congress last year. Those of Andrew McCabe will surely do the same. So, big surprise, Trump did exactly what Comey claimed he did in their oval office chat and the case for obstruction of justice is looking ever more solid.

Speaking of Andrew McCabe: Where is the IG report we were promised would justify his dismissal one day before his retirement? Did I miss the news? Every week it fails to appear suggests more strongly that Trump's action was just another move in his campaign of obstruction.

[drogulus]

Speaking of Andrew McCabe: Where is the IG report we were promised would justify his dismissal one day before his retirement? Did I miss the news? Every week it fails to appear suggests more strongly that Trump's action was just another move in his campaign of obstruction.

     It's supposed to come in the spring. The rush to judgment on McCabe is irregular. Trump waged a public campaign against McCabe that came to a head after McCabe testified to the truthfulness of Comey's account of the Trump meeting. Trump didn't just want McCabe fired as he always had, he needed him fired now now now. Of course this will be part of the obstruction case whether McCabe did anything to discredit himself on the Hillary matter or not.

     Repubs in Congress are steeling themselves for what's coming. Of course they imagine themselves as playing defense for Trump. They'd like to, they really really would. But consider, Ryan is retiring, a clear signal that he is preparing himself.  I judge some vote counting is being done, but that many Repubs don't actually know what they will do. It's a very frying pan-fire kind of thing.

politics are changing, and you don't wanna be the last one holding a dog collar when the oversight committee comes.

     Let's say you're a generic Repub looking at opposing impeachment in 2019. Do you want to be the last Repub holding a TrumPutin dog collar? Remember the Nixon die hards in Congress? Even I don't remember them. History shat on them big time.

[Karl Henning]

And, so much for adults "cocooning" El Tupé . . .

In sum, Ryan retreats from the scene after loading the country up with debt and leaving virtually every other agenda item save tax cuts undone. He fantasized that in backing [El Tupé], who lacks conservative principles (or any principles), he'd have carte blanche to enact the entire GOP agenda. He made his Faustian bargain with Trump on the false assumption that [El Tupé] would be compliant, take direction from House Republicans and demonstrate enough discipline to get through a slew of initiatives. That did not come to pass, because Ryan, in making his disastrous decision to place party over country and corporate tax cuts over defense of democratic values, failed to comprehend the depth of [El Tupé's] unfitness and the centrality of character in determining a president's success.

[ Cue the inevitable chorus of If Rubin isn't in the tank with El Tupé, well, darn it, she's not really a Conservative! ]

[Karl Henning]

In brief, Trump enablers (whether in office, or out among the electorate) are fine with the President defecating all over the Constitution, so long as the feces emerge from the Trump anus.

[...] a mandate specifically set forth in the "take care" clause in Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution. That provision states the president "shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed." It does not say "unless he's the potential defendant," nor does it say "with favoritism toward allies and vengeance toward opponents."

[...]

Likewise, the presidential oath of office, explicitly set out in the Constitution, obligates the president "to the best of [his] Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." The oath's wording makes him the custodian for the Constitution on behalf of the people; it does not authorize him to roam the land using whatever powers he finds to further his self-interest.

[dhibbard]

What does this thread have to do with Good Music?   Nothing... let's delete this thread!

[Baron Scarpia]

You may have noticed that the "Diner" section has the description "discuss anything, music excepted."

[drogulus]

It appears, according to my 2017 tax preparer, that we will be better off under the Trump tax plan, after all.   

     I still don't know, I haven't got all my K-1's yet.

[kishnevi]

It appears, according to my 2017 tax preparer, that we will be better off under the Trump tax plan, after all.   

Chazak u'baruch! On my part, I will come out no better, and possibly slightly worse off.

[arpeggio]

I am a little better but the amount is nothing to get excited about.

[zamyrabyrd]

In brief, Trump enablers (whether in office, or out among the electorate) are fine with the President defecating all over the Constitution, so long as the feces emerge from the Trump anus.

How about innocent until proven guilty?
Honestly, I really dislike your choice of language and even think it should be banned.

[zamyrabyrd]

What does this thread have to do with Good Music?   Nothing... let's delete this thread!

I agree, this thread has nothing to do with Good Anything.

[milk]

How about innocent until proven guilty?
Honestly, I really dislike your choice of language and even think it should be banned.

I thought you were a free speech person. What exactly do you want to ban? Specific words or ideas?

[milk]

I agree, this thread has nothing to do with Good Anything.

You're on this thread all the time.

[Wendell_E]

I agree, this thread has nothing to do with Good Anything.

What do you expect? It is about Trump, after all.

[milk]

What do you expect? It is about Trump, after all.

[Karl Henning]

How about innocent until proven guilty?

Certainly.  So why impede the investigation, hmmm?

[Karl Henning]

No big surprise here:

[El Tupé's] would-be secretary of state has an Islamophobia problem

[zamyrabyrd]

I thought you were a free speech person. What exactly do you want to ban? Specific words or ideas?

People like you don't understand that freedom is not the same thing as license. I am against incivility and smut. At least we can be self-censoring when it comes to potty mouth (or pen) since musicians are supposed to be cultured.