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

[Christo]

Well...he claims to have filled in a written questionnaire and then put the paper in a drawer, not sent it in.

So I guess now he can say "I've answered Meuller's questions" and it is kinda-sorta literally true. In his head.

Do we have any proof that he can (properly) write at all? I don't think so: he's just talking nonsense.

[milk]

Do we have any proof that he can (properly) write at all? I don't think so: he's just talking nonsense.

He brags like a child that it was easy to write answers.

[71 dB]

Do we have any proof that he can (properly) write at all?

At least he proudly shows to the World whenever he has written his name to sign a bill...

He brags like a child that it was easy to write answers.

Almost as easy as fixing the healthcare system and winning trade wars...

[BasilValentine]

He brags like a child that it was easy to write answers.

He bragged about passing the dementia test! — identifying a picture of a camel and such — so this is hardly surprising.

[drogulus]

Given what happened to Yugoslavia, Libya, Syria, etc, that's not particularly reassuring >.>

     It would not reassure me if peacemongers really couldn't fight wars, or warmongers couldn't make peace. When I vote for President I'm aware that I'm choosing a decision maker, not making a decision about war or peace in the abstract.

[bwv 1080]

Now with Sessions gone, Trump announced support for some much needed prison reforms


The new legislation would eliminate "stacking" provisions that result in offenders serving consecutive sentences for crimes committed using firearms; shorten mandatory minimum sentences, including reverting life imprisonment to a 25-year minimum for those convicted under the "three strikes" provision; and expand the "drug safety valve" to reduce the number of nonviolent drug offenders receiving mandatory minimum sentences.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/11/14/politics/trump-prison-reform/index.html

[Todd]

Now with Sessions gone, Trump announced support for some much needed prison reforms

Hopefully, this goes somewhere.  Obviously, Trump won't do anything to dismantle the unbridled American war machine*, so whittling away at the gruesome prison system that abuses state power to unjustly destroy lives by the hundreds of thousands is probably the next best thing to reduce the coercive power of the state.


* How could he?  Congress was just warned that there is a "crisis of national security" and that the US military could lose a war with Russia or China.  Oh noes!  Time to up that DOD budget.

[amw]

Hopefully, this goes somewhere.  Obviously, Trump won't do anything to dismantle the unbridled American war machine*, so whittling away at the gruesome prison system that abuses state power to unjustly destroy lives by the hundreds of thousands is probably the next best thing to reduce the coercive power of the state.


* How could he?  Congress was just warned that there is a "crisis of national security" and that the US military could lose a war with Russia or China.  Oh noes!  Time to up that DOD budget.

I was surprised to see this new one-week focus on criminal justice reform from the man who still thinks the Central Park Five deserve the death penalty. I imagine Congress is hoping he'll forget all about it next week so they don't have to do anything that would upset their private prison and police union donors.

[Todd]

I was surprised to see this new one-week focus on criminal justice reform from the man who still thinks the Central Park Five deserve the death penalty.

If he succeeded, it would neutralize a Dem issue, but Congress won't be doing nothing substantive for the next two years.  Well, unless one counts hearings and investigations that cannot remove the president from office.  Maybe a particularly crafty Dem pol will be able to use the delightful political tumult to come to win back the White House.

[Daverz]

This map is amazing:



Orange County, California, the birthplace of modern conservatism, will send zero Republicans to Congress in 2018.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/11/16/18098944/orange-county-blue-wave-2018

Bonus image: Republican nightmares

[BasilValentine]

If he succeeded, it would neutralize a Dem issue, but Congress won't be doing nothing substantive for the next two years.  Well, unless one counts hearings and investigations that cannot remove the president from office.  Maybe a particularly crafty Dem pol will be able to use the delightful political tumult to come to win back the White House.

So, no optimism about the possibility of bipartisan legislation on infrastructure or immigration?

[amw]

"Bipartisanship" tends to produce some of the worst US laws, eg the NDAA, Patriot Act reauthorisation, etc—maybe a handful of exceptions on issues that are much harder to vote against (eg VAWA). Most good laws in US history have been passed by the more progressive of the two parties after severe obstruction from the more conservative of the two parties. For example you needed to wait until there were 67 senators who wanted to pass the Civil Rights Act because the conservatives (who were Southern Democrats at the time) kept blocking it; it wasn't bipartisan in the modern sense of the word because it was almost exclusively the progressives (of both parties) who voted for it and exclusively the conservatives (mostly of one party) who opposed it.

A good immigration bill would involve the abolition of DHS and its component agencies, mass amnesty & a much easier path to legal immigration and citizenship. A "bipartisan" immigration bill would do none of those things and probably make life materially worse for many people. (And the environment, if it involved building a border wall.)

[Todd]

So, no optimism about the possibility of bipartisan legislation on infrastructure or immigration?

You misunderstood my post.  I'm very optimistic about the coming gridlock.  It's what the country needs.  If it takes hollow, ineffectual Dem grandstanding in Congress to achieve that, so be it.

For example you needed to wait until there were 67 senators who wanted to pass the Civil Rights Act because the conservatives (who were Southern Democrats at the time) kept blocking it

It also needed to wait until a golden boy president was killed and a masterful former senator (and Southern Democrat) who was not afraid to use his power to twist arms was in office to push through the martyr's agenda.

A good immigration bill would involve the abolition of DHS and its component agencies

This will not happen.  Once established, federal government agencies don't go away, except some established during mass mobilization wars (ie, the Civil War, WWI, and WWII).  And what member of Congress, even a putatively "progressive" one (outside of some 75%+ undemocratic Democrat districts), wants to go back to his or her district or state and explain why they dismantled part of the national security apparatus which keeps us safe from various and sundry threats?  Oh, yes, and then there's the DHS budget of ~$50 billion, which provides jobs in certain areas.  DHS is here to stay, and some of its component agencies, meaning probably ICE most of all, have roots that stretch back to the 19th Century.  I suppose its name could be changed.

[Todd]

Democrat Bill Nelson concedes to GOP's Rick Scott in Florida Senate race after manual recount

All's well that ends well.

[drogulus]

     Trump knows Whittaker, and yet doesn't know him. It's a very arms length situation.

     

[SimonNZ]

One of today's tweets:

"So funny to see little Adam Schitt (D-CA) talking about the fact that Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker was not approved by the Senate, but not mentioning the fact that Bob Mueller (who is highly conflicted) was not approved by the Senate!"

In case you miss it at first glance: "Schiff" has been changed to "Schitt".

Thats the level he's working on.

[Todd]

Thats the level he's working on.

And you posted about it.  Beautiful.

[SimonNZ]

And you posted about it.  Beautiful.

??

Please explain.

[SimonNZ]

Architect of bin Laden raid: Trump 'threatens the Constitution' when he attacks the media

Retired Adm. William McRaven on Sunday stood by his previous statement that President Donald Trump's attacks on the news media represent "the greatest threat to democracy" after the President dismissed him as a "Hillary Clinton backer" in an interview that aired on Fox News.

"I did not back Hillary Clinton or anyone else," McRaven, who oversaw the operation that killed Osama bin Laden, told CNN. "I am a fan of President Obama and President George W. Bush, both of whom I worked for. I admire all presidents, regardless of their political party, who uphold the dignity of the office and who use that office to bring the nation together in challenging times."

"I stand by my comment that the President's attack on the media is the greatest threat to our democracy in my lifetime," McRaven said, referencing remarks he made about Trump last year. "When you undermine the people's right to a free press and freedom of speech and expression, then you threaten the Constitution and all for which it stands."


Trump attacks retired Navy SEAL Admiral Bill McRaven, suggests he should have gotten bin Laden sooner

[SimonNZ]

"According to CBS News White House Correspondent Mark Knoller, it was the 40th interview Trump has done with Fox News since taking office compared to three with ABC, four with CBS, 5 with NBC and none with CNN."