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

[drogulus]

     Eisenhower played golf. Trump plays golf. They are different in some respects.

     


     

[drogulus]

     'He's losing his s---': Trump's advisers are increasingly worried about his mental state following days of erratic behavior

As of Friday afternoon, Trump had posted 12 tweets and five maps about Alabama and the storm to try to prove his original tweet was correct, despite the fact that he'd been publicly rebuked by the National Weather Service. He also showed reporters an altered map of the storm's path on Wednesday to defend his claims, a move that may even be illegal, according to federal law.

"He's deteriorating in plain sight," one Republican strategist who's in frequent contact with the White House told Insider on Friday.

Asked why the president was obsessed with Alabama instead of the states that would actually be affected by the storm, the strategist said, "you should ask a psychiatrist about that; I'm not sure I'm qualified to comment."


   

[JBS]

Be it noted that today, the sixth of September in the 2017th year of the common era, is the 959th straight  day in which the President of the United States has engaged in erratic behavior.

[Karl Henning]

Be it noted that today, the sixth of September in the 2017th year of the common era, is the 959th straight  day in which the President of the United States has engaged in erratic behavior.

And the country's Republicans are good with that.

[drogulus]

Be it noted that today, the sixth of September in the 2017th year of the common era, is the 959th straight  day in which the President of the United States has engaged in erratic behavior.

     Insiders are reporting he's getting worse. He's manipulated someone at NOAA to issue a bogus confirmation of his Alabama fixation, as if a statement issued days later could alter facts about prior authoritative statements on the course the hurricane would take. Whether this indicates a worse state of mind or the same state of mind revealed in all it's insane clown-ness I can't be certain.

     It could be that Trump gets worse as pressure builds on multiple fronts.

[Karl Henning]

     Insiders are reporting he's getting worse. He's manipulated someone at NOAA to issue a bogus confirmation of his Alabama fixation, as if a statement issued days later could alter facts about prior authoritative statements on the course the hurricane would take. Whether this indicates a worse state of mind or the same state of mind revealed in all it's insane clown-ness I can't be certain.

     It could be that Trump gets worse as pressure builds on multiple fronts.

Where's Chris Christie, when he needs his doughnuts?!

[SimonNZ]

Sarah Huckabee Sanders Unclear On Why She Is Not A Feminist Icon

"Sarah Huckabee Sanders made her big debut on Fox and Friends yesterday in full-on Pitiful Pearl mode (minus the jaunty head scarf), whining about how terrible it is that so many other women do not think it was awesome that her actual job was to lie on behalf of a man who bragged about his tendency to grab women by the pussy. So much for empowerment, huh!

This came up, naturally, when co-host Steve Doocy asked if she still gets people coming up to her and saying terrible things and asking her to leave their restaurants all the time.

Via The Hill:

"Sometimes. You know, it usually depends on where I am in the country. Back home in Arkansas, things have been so far pretty easy and very welcoming," she began, before adding: "But every once in a while, you always have somebody who comes up to say something nasty to you."

"Like what," Doocy asked.

"What I always find interesting is 99 percent of the people who come over to say something negative, and to attack you, are women. And I find that very startling from a group of people that claim to be the champions of women empowerment," Sanders said.

"I am only the third woman and the first mom to ever be the White House press secretary," she continued. "And yet women attack me relentlessly, instead of being proud that we have more women doing those types of jobs."

"Do you ever say that to them?" co-host Ainsley Earhardt asked.

"Sometimes. But, usually, what they're looking for is a reaction. So, I always find it's best to nod, smile and say thank you for your time and walk on," Sanders said.

True. It's like how everyone always talks about how Elizabeth Bathory maybe murdered like 650 people but they never mention that she basically managed a big chunk of Hungary all on her own while her husband was away at war. Or how no one talks about how Leona Helmsley really made her mark as a woman in the real estate and hotel businesses. And no one ever talks about how Imelda Marcos later ran her very own business, selling shoes and accessories. All just because they were really bad people who did bad things! So unfair!

You see, conservatives believe that it doesn't matter to us what someone thinks, does, believes, is qualified for or is good at, just so long as that person is not a straight white male — and they would like to benefit from that. They would like to be able to parade a woman or a person of color out and have all of us go "Well, they're not a straight white man, so they must have a point. Maybe Donald Trump is awesome and totally not sexist!" and to be able to accuse us of being hypocrites if we do not. They keep trying to do a whole "TWO CAN PLAY THIS GAME!" game. But the problem is, that is not actually what we believe. It is not what anyone believes.

As a feminist, I believe in equality. I believe women can be just as evil as men, and so I have absolutely no qualms about saying that that woman is one evil mother-hucker."

[Todd]

Tales from the Appalachian Trail: Ex-governor Mark Sanford to launch 2020 Republican challenge to Trump

What say the members of the GMG Big Brain Brigade, is this meaningful?

[71 dB]

I can understand greed. I can understand ambition. I can understand lack of morals. However, I don't understand how people not in mental institutions can be this delusional. Same with Howard Schultz who was delusional enough to think anyone outside the social circles of Wall Street multimillionaires would be interested of the thought of him becoming the president.

[drogulus]

     U.S. Extracted Top Spy From Inside the Russian Government in 2017: CNN   

Asked for comment, Brittany Bramell, the CIA director of public affairs, told CNN: "CNN's narrative that the Central Intelligence Agency makes life-or-death decisions based on anything other than objective analysis and sound collection is simply false. Misguided speculation that the President's handling of our nation's most sensitive intelligence—which he has access to each and every day—drove an alleged exfiltration operation is inaccurate."

     But...but.... the CNN story is saying that the extraction was due to "objective analysis and sound collection", including the additional danger that Evil Clown 1 presented.

The decision to carry out the extraction occurred soon after a May 2017 meeting in the Oval Office in which Trump discussed highly classified intelligence with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and then-Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. The intelligence, concerning ISIS in Syria, had been provided by Israel.

The disclosure to the Russians by the President, though not about the Russian spy specifically, prompted intelligence officials to renew earlier discussions about the potential risk of exposure, according to the source directly involved in the matter.

     
     

     

[drogulus]

     Democrats Plan Vote to Formalize Procedures for Impeachment Investigation

The Judiciary Committee has been edging toward a full-scale impeachment inquiry since the spring, when Democrats began calling witnesses and demanding evidence related to a range of potential presidential misconduct.

But only in July, after testimony from Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, did the committee formally declare to a judge that what had begun as a regular congressional oversight investigation was now primarily focused on whether to recommend articles of impeachment.

[Karl Henning]

     Democrats Plan Vote to Formalize Procedures for Impeachment Investigation

The Judiciary Committee has been edging toward a full-scale impeachment inquiry since the spring, when Democrats began calling witnesses and demanding evidence related to a range of potential presidential misconduct.

But only in July, after testimony from Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, did the committee formally declare to a judge that what had begun as a regular congressional oversight investigation was now primarily focused on whether to recommend articles of impeachment.

As long as the Senate is commandeered by Republican buttock-puckerers, the endeavor is apt to fail.

[drogulus]

As long as the Senate is commandeered by Republican buttock-puckerers, the endeavor is apt to fail.

      That's understood. It's not a very strong argument for not doing it. Congress must do its duty and if the Senate in its wisdom declares that Trump didn't commit the offenses he'll be charged with, there will be consequences for that, too.

     Yes, Democrats Should Impeach Trump—and Make Mitch McConnell Defend His Acquittal

Walking and chewing gum at the same time—a useful cliché—usually means in this context legislating and investigating Trump simultaneously. But it could also mean something else: attacking Trump and McConnell at the same time. It may be that a winning Democratic impeachment strategy is coming into view, one that simultaneously upholds the rule of law and yields political dividends.

I call it "Stain and Blame"—stain Trump by impeaching him, and blame McConnell when he is acquitted in the Senate.

     

[SimonNZ]

Pro-Trump 'War Hero' Featured on Fox News Never Actually Served in War

"A military veteran glowingly featured by Fox News earlier this month for his pro-Trump artwork and his record as a "war hero" admitted Thursday to lying about his military service. John Garofalo, 72, was featured in a Bryan Llenas report as having served seven years as a Navy SEAL, receiving 22 commendations, including two Purple Hearts, and having been listed twice as missing in action during Vietnam. Garofalo, who personally carved a presidential seal to gift President Trump, is a "tough, tough man," Llenas said, after calling him a "hero" during an interview. Fox News anchor Eric Shawn later remarked: "God bless John Garofalo. We certainly hope maybe the president is listening." However, when the Navy Times reached out to Garofalo on Thursday, he confessed to having lied about his military service. "What I did I'm ashamed of, and I didn't mean to cause so much disgrace to the SEALs," he told the Times. Fox News has since removed the video, which went viral on Facebook, and issued a statement apologizing for the error. (UPDATE: On Friday afternoon, Llenas issued an on-air correction.)"


also: with today's Bolton news I once again have to ask those people who say Trump's tweeting should just be ignored: but then how will anyone know they've been fired?

[SimonNZ]

Trump explains his distinctive orange hue: it's the lightbulbs

"Talking before an audience of Republican legislators in Baltimore on Thursday night, Trump gave a rambling speech in which he tackled criticism of his recent plans to weaken regulations on environmentally friendly bulbs.

"The lightbulb," the president began. "People said: what's with the lightbulb? I said: here's the story. And I looked at it. The bulb that we're being forced to use! No 1, to me, most importantly, the light's no good. I always look orange. And so do you! The light is the worst."

[SimonNZ]

Trump uttered what many supporters consider blasphemy. Here's why most will probably forgive him.

"President Trump has had trouble with a number of the Ten Commandments.

There's the adultery. There's the prohibition against giving false witness, for a man who has made more than 12,000 false or misleading claims during his presidency.

And then there's this commandment: Thou shalt not take the Lord's name in vain.

That's the one the president violated again on Thursday night, when he joked about "goddamn windmills" while talking with House Republicans in Baltimore about energy policy.

For some of the president's evangelical supporters, Trump's occasional use of the word "goddamn" is a bridge too far, even for a president whose behavior they've grown accustomed to excusing as they fervently support his policies.

"I certainly do not condone taking the Lord's name in vain. There is a whole commandment dedicated to prohibiting that," said the Rev. Robert Jeffress, a Texas megachurch leader who is one of Trump's most outspoken evangelical advisers and supporters. "I think it's very offensive to use the Lord's name in vain. I can take just about everything else, except that," when it comes to off-color language.

Trump has been urged in the past to cease using this particular word. A state senator from West Virginia, Paul Hardesty, told Politico in August that he got calls from three constituents after one Trump rally alone. He wrote a letter to the White House: "Never utter those words again."

At that rally, the president had told a North Carolina crowd about the Islamic State, "They'll be hit so goddamn hard," and had recalled warning a businessman, "If you don't support me, you're going to be so goddamn poor."

This was the same Greenville rally at which Trump's supporters chanted "send her back" about Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), a chant Democrats decried as racist. But it was the blasphemy that spurred some West Virginians to call their Trump-supporting state senator to ask him to do something about the president's language."


(they forgot to mention the coveting and the stealing - and that he sees himself as god)

[Karl Henning]

The hypocrisy is monumental.

[SimonNZ]

He's probably got the not working on the Sabbath thing down solid, though.

[JBS]

So evangelicals are upset about him breaking a commandment? The irony is that the commandment to not take the Name in vain has nothing to  do with cursewords.  Other verses in the Bible forbid cussing and obscenity in general terms, of course, but "d*mn" is as bad as "g*dd*mn".  The extra syllable does not increase its sinfulness. There is little to no evidence of what words the ancient Israelites used as equivalents to our obscenities, but references to the Divine Being don't seem to have played a part.

What this commandment does is ban oaths, vows and swearing ("I swear to  God it's true! I swear I'll pay you back next week") that are not needed. False oaths, meaning perjury, are forbidden, but so is a true oath that did not need to be made. So all Trump's broken promises can be categorized under this commandment, but his use of cusswords is not.

[Karl Henning]

So evangelicals are upset about him breaking a commandment? The irony is that the commandment to not take the Name in vain has nothing to  do with cursewords.  Other verses in the Bible forbid cussing and obscenity in general terms, of course, but "d*mn" is as bad as "g*dd*mn".  The extra syllable does not increase its sinfulness. There is little to no evidence of what words the ancient Israelites used as equivalents to our obscenities, but references to the Divine Being don't seem to have played a part.

What this commandment does is ban oaths, vows and swearing ("I swear to  God it's true! I swear I'll pay you back next week") that are not needed. False oaths, meaning perjury, are forbidden, but so is a true oath that did not need to be made. So all Trump's broken promises can be categorized under this commandment, but his use of cusswords is not.

Verily.