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

Started by kishnevi, November 09, 2016, 06:04:39 PM

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SimonNZ

The 33 most outlandish lines from Donald Trump's news conference with Justin Trudeau

[...]

3. "I've done many environmental impact statements over my life and I believe in -- I believe very strongly in very, very crystal clear, clean water and clean air. That's a big part of climate change."

[narrator voice] It's not.

[...]

13. "Well, we'll put them on a payment plan, you know? We'll put Canada on a payment plan, right?"

[Cut to Trudeau, not laughing]

14. "We are winning so big."

The question that elicited this response, you ask? "Mr. President, to turn back to impeachment, you met with Clinton adviser Mark Penn last month. What did you learn from that meeting? And what advice are you getting on impeachment?" Very cool and very legal.

15. "I have my best poll numbers that I've ever had."

In the latest Gallup tracking poll -- conducted in mid-November -- 43% approved of the job Trump was doing as President and a whole 54% disapproved. The best he has ever done in Gallup polling was 46% in late April. His approval number has hovered in the upper 30s/low 40s for the vast majority of his presidency.

16. "I mean, I see what's going on, especially the Trump districts, where I won by a lot. I have districts where I won by a lot. You people know it better than anybody."

In 2016, Trump won 230 congressional districts while Hillary Clinton won 205, according to Daily Kos number crunching.

17. "We had -- in Kentucky, we won everything other than the governorship, and the governor I brought up almost 19 points."

[narrator voice] No, he didn't.

18. "And Louisiana was a long shot; it was less than 1%. He came up 12 or 14 points, a lot."

Again, no.

19. "And, by the way, in Mississippi, we won the governorship, very close race. It was tied going in, two days before. I went up, we made a speech, we had a rally and he won by a lot."

Trump won Mississippi by 18 points in 2016. It is among the most conservative states in the country.

20. "We have never had the spirit that we've had. I really believe, I think I can honestly say, I don't think we've ever had the spirit that we have right now in the Republican Party."

[stares intently at spirit-o-meter, looking for record readings]

21. "I don't watch the stock market."

I laughed out loud. Not kidding.

[...]

24. "Someday, hopefully in a very long, distant future, you'll have a Democrat president, you'll have a Republican House, and they'll do the same thing, because somebody picked an orange out of a refrigerator and you don't like it, so let's go and impeach him."[...]

SimonNZ

Trump claims Barr was misquoted in story on Russia probe IG report

"President Donald Trump on Tuesday claimed Attorney General William Barr was misquoted in a news report stating that the Justice Department chief disagreed with a key finding in his agency's watchdog review of the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign.

"I think he was quoted incorrectly. I do believe that because I'm hearing the [inspector general's] report is very powerful," Trump told reporters at the meeting of NATO leaders in London. "But I'm hearing that by reading lots of different things, not from inside information. It's really from outside information. I think all we have to do is wait."

The president's remarks referred to a Washington Post story published late Monday reporting that Barr was skeptical of the Justice Department IG's conclusion that the FBI had sufficient evidence to justify its probe into potential coordination between Trump associates and Russia during the 2016 presidential race.

The New York Times also reported Monday that the attorney general had doubts about the watchdog's assessment, and although Barr was quoted in neither story, Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec did not explicitly deny the dispute in a statement.

While Trump speculated that Barr has "perhaps" read the report detailing inspector general Michael Horowitz's findings — which has not yet been made public and is expected to be released in the coming days — the president insisted he had not yet seen the highly anticipated document himself.

Trump purported to have heard that "there's a lot of devastating things" in the report, and acknowledged that it "would be a little disappointing" if the Post's story on the inspector general's findings proves accurate. But he stressed that "it was just ... one aspect of" Horowitz's finished product.

"We'll see what happens. We'll see," Trump concluded. "It's coming out in a few days. I hear it's devastating. But we'll soon find out."

Trump on Tuesday also promoted another forthcoming report by John Durham, the U.S. attorney for Connecticut, who Barr appointed in May to lead a separate, broader investigation into the origins of the Russia probe.

Congressional Democrats have criticized that inquiry as a partisan quest for political retribution sought by the president and executed by his attorney general. Trump granted Barr sweeping authority to declassify documents as part of Durham's work, which POLITICO reported in October has become a criminal investigation.

"I do think the big report to wait for is going to be the Durham report. That's the one that people are really waiting for," Trump said. "And he's highly respected, and he's worked very hard, and he's worked long hours, I can tell you, and gone all over the world, so we'll see. But the Durham report is the report people are really looking forward to."

Daverz

Quote from: SimonNZ on December 03, 2019, 02:57:21 PM
24. "Someday, hopefully in a very long, distant future, you'll have a Democrat president, you'll have a Republican House, and they'll do the same thing, because somebody picked an orange out of a refrigerator and you don't like it, so let's go and impeach him."[...]

At first I thought "impeach him" referred to the orange and showed remarkable self-awareness for Trump.

drogulus


                                                                                                                  

     

                                                                                                                  
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Herman

Quote from: drogulus on December 03, 2019, 05:33:38 AM
     Britain's Secret War With Russia

     Putin has been effective in exploiting every kind of political weakness in Europe and the U.K. without the assistance of a "No Puppet".

He's got No Puppet Puppets in EU, too.
Farage, Wilders, LePen.
They just don't get the kind of media exposure as the Trump No Puppet does.

drogulus

Quote from: Herman on December 04, 2019, 12:29:45 AM
He's got No Puppet Puppets in EU, too.
Farage, Wilders, LePen.
They just don't get the kind of media exposure as the Trump No Puppet does.

     Yes, but it's kind of special when you say "No Puppet, you're the Puppet" as though it's a matter of simple logic that someone is.
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Herman

Yeah, it's simple, but it's basically the total and entire strategy of the Trump GOP.

Whatever bad things you do, make sure to preemptively throw it, or something exactly similar, back at those who may accuse you of doing a bad thing.

It's an abuse of the 'equal time' thing the media used to do, and Trump c.s. have turned it into a maddeningly infantile get-out-of-jail card, rejecting all political responsibility, because "they do it too!". The Trump base loves it; they think it's hilarious.

dissily Mordentroge

Quote from: Herman on December 04, 2019, 09:40:38 AM
Yeah, it's simple, but it's basically the total and entire strategy of the Trump GOP.

Whatever bad things you do, make sure to preemptively throw it, or something exactly similar, back at those who may accuse you of doing a bad thing.

It's an abuse of the 'equal time' thing the media used to do, and Trump c.s. have turned it into a maddeningly infantile get-out-of-jail card, rejecting all political responsibility, because "they do it too!". The Trump base loves it; they think it's hilarious.
Small things amuse small minds.

drogulus


     Barr's handpicked prosecutor tells inspector general he can't back right-wing theory that Russia case was U.S. intelligence setup

Among Horowitz's questions: whether a Maltese professor who interacted with a Trump campaign adviser was actually a U.S. intelligence asset deployed to ensnare the campaign, the people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the inspector general's findings have not been made public.

But the intelligence agencies said the professor was not among their assets, the people said. And Durham informed Horowitz's office that his investigation had not produced any evidence that might contradict the inspector general's findings on that point.


     At least Barr got a nice trip to Italy out of the Mifsud thing.

     I wonder if Barr still thinks reputational death in advance of death death is OK.
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drogulus

     Germany links Russian agents to Berlin assassination, expels diplomats

     These Ukrainians are really getting out of hand. Can't Vladdy do something about their evil machinations? Rudy?....Billy?......your leader needs you.

     

     "Here I come to save the day!!"
     
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SimonNZ

Trump taps consultant who urged food ban on homeless to lead council

"The Trump administration has tapped Robert Marbut, a consultant who has urged cities to stop feeding the homeless, to lead the agency that coordinates the government's response to the crisis, drawing a rebuke from a top housing advocate.

The administration last month pushed out Matthew Doherty, an Obama appointee, as executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness. Marbut will take the helm pending confirmation by the council at its Dec. 10 meeting, Jennifer Rich, a spokesperson for the group, confirmed on Wednesday.

As a consultant who advised cities on how to reduce homelessness, Marbut advocated putting unsheltered people in "24/7 programming" to treat addiction and other issues — and to stop feeding them.

"You can't be feeding on the street," Marbut told NPR in a 2014 interview. "But likewise, you have to provide and enhance and sometimes create programs that address the root causes because hunger is not the root cause of homelessness."

Marbut is also a critic of the "housing first" approach adopted by many cities, a policy that advocates providing permanent housing as a first step in dealing with homelessness.

"I'm pretty controversial, because I often say, 'Having a home is not the problem for the homeless. It's maintaining a financial stability that allows you to maintain your homestead,'" Marbut told NextCity in 2015.

Still, he referred to efforts to arrest the homeless as "gimmicks," potentially putting him at odds with the White House, which floated increased policing as a tool to combat homelessness when it released a report on the issue in September.

"If you use ordinances to criminalize and you do not provide alternative services, you do not provide correct engagement," Marbut said in the NextCity interview. "Those gimmicks don't work. They make you feel good for an hour."

Marbut has also advocated moving homeless people to large "campuses" with onsite treatment — an approach that alarms housing advocates like Diane Yentel, president and CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, who called his appointment "potentially a big step backwards."

"He clearly has a patronizing, condescending and blaming approach — which, while it may hide homelessness, especially from downtown businesses, it does nothing to end or even alleviate homelessness," Yentel said."[...]

dissily Mordentroge

Quote from: SimonNZ on December 05, 2019, 03:06:38 PM
Trump taps consultant who urged food ban on homeless to lead council

"The Trump administration has tapped Robert Marbut, a consultant who has urged cities to stop feeding the homeless, to lead the agency that coordinates the government's response to the crisis, drawing a rebuke from a top housing advocate.

The administration last month pushed out Matthew Doherty, an Obama appointee, as executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness. Marbut will take the helm pending confirmation by the council at its Dec. 10 meeting, Jennifer Rich, a spokesperson for the group, confirmed on Wednesday.

As a consultant who advised cities on how to reduce homelessness, Marbut advocated putting unsheltered people in "24/7 programming" to treat addiction and other issues — and to stop feeding them.

"You can't be feeding on the street," Marbut told NPR in a 2014 interview. "But likewise, you have to provide and enhance and sometimes create programs that address the root causes because hunger is not the root cause of homelessness."

Marbut is also a critic of the "housing first" approach adopted by many cities, a policy that advocates providing permanent housing as a first step in dealing with homelessness.

"I'm pretty controversial, because I often say, 'Having a home is not the problem for the homeless. It's maintaining a financial stability that allows you to maintain your homestead,'" Marbut told NextCity in 2015.

Still, he referred to efforts to arrest the homeless as "gimmicks," potentially putting him at odds with the White House, which floated increased policing as a tool to combat homelessness when it released a report on the issue in September.

"If you use ordinances to criminalize and you do not provide alternative services, you do not provide correct engagement," Marbut said in the NextCity interview. "Those gimmicks don't work. They make you feel good for an hour."

Marbut has also advocated moving homeless people to large "campuses" with onsite treatment — an approach that alarms housing advocates like Diane Yentel, president and CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, who called his appointment "potentially a big step backwards."

"He clearly has a patronizing, condescending and blaming approach — which, while it may hide homelessness, especially from downtown businesses, it does nothing to end or even alleviate homelessness," Yentel said."[...]
Has this Randian fool considered how many of the homeless will now be driven to crime to feed themselves and what the resultant cost of keeping them fed in jail will be? Maybe he's got shares in a private penal company? Nothing about the viciousness of US right wing hysteria would surprise me.
Wonder how many homeless  Pres' Trump and his consort are inviting to Mar-el-largo for Christmas dinner?

Herman

It's just standard Trump procedure, appointing a guy who hates the department and what it stands for.

Karl Henning

Quote from: Herman on December 06, 2019, 12:44:42 AM
It's just standard Trump procedure, appointing a guy who hates the department and what it stands for.

Reflecting his own contempt for office and law.
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

SimonNZ

Russians likely eavesdropped on Giulani's calls with Trump: report
Washington Post says call logs suggest Trump and others are still using unsecure phones


""Congress and investigators have call records that suggest certain things but have no means whatsoever of getting the actual text. . . . I guarantee the Russians have the actual information."

Those are the words of John Sipher, the CIA's former deputy chief of Russia operations, telling the Washington Post that Russia probably knows more about Rudy Giulani's calls regarding Ukraine than impeachment investigators do.

The Post reported Thursday that phone logs between Giuliani and the White House switchboard suggest high-level communications on personal cellphones that were almost certainly under foreign surveillance.

Sipher told the Post that Russian intelligence likely monitors Giuliani's calls and that through the continued use of unsecured phones, Guiliani and President Donald Trump have effectively "given the Russians ammunition they can use in an overt fashion, a covert fashion or in the twisting of information."

An unnamed former senior aide agreed that the Russians have likely been eavesdropping on calls between Trump and Giuliani. "It's a bonanza for them," he told the Post.

And it's not just calls with the president — the Post said that Giuliani's phone conversations with people such as Lev Parnas could be just as valuable to foreign spies, especially if he was recounting conversations he had with Trump."[...]


but.
her.
e-.
mails.

BasilValentine

Quote from: SimonNZ on December 06, 2019, 09:22:54 AM
Russians likely eavesdropped on Giulani's calls with Trump: report
Washington Post says call logs suggest Trump and others are still using unsecure phones


""Congress and investigators have call records that suggest certain things but have no means whatsoever of getting the actual text. . . . I guarantee the Russians have the actual information."

Those are the words of John Sipher, the CIA's former deputy chief of Russia operations, telling the Washington Post that Russia probably knows more about Rudy Giulani's calls regarding Ukraine than impeachment investigators do.

The Post reported Thursday that phone logs between Giuliani and the White House switchboard suggest high-level communications on personal cellphones that were almost certainly under foreign surveillance.

Sipher told the Post that Russian intelligence likely monitors Giuliani's calls and that through the continued use of unsecured phones, Guiliani and President Donald Trump have effectively "given the Russians ammunition they can use in an overt fashion, a covert fashion or in the twisting of information."

An unnamed former senior aide agreed that the Russians have likely been eavesdropping on calls between Trump and Giuliani. "It's a bonanza for them," he told the Post.

And it's not just calls with the president — the Post said that Giuliani's phone conversations with people such as Lev Parnas could be just as valuable to foreign spies, especially if he was recounting conversations he had with Trump."[...]


but.
her.
e-.
mails.

Purely academic at this point. The Russians own Trump's ass. Only idiots don't know this. The Republicans have accepted his shadow overlord because there is nothing they wouldn't sell to keep a hold on power.

SimonNZ

It bears repeating, though. None of Trump's misdeeds or hypocrisy should be allowed to get lost in all the noise.

meanwhile:

More than 500 legal scholars sign letter saying Trump committed 'impeachable conduct'

More than 500 legal scholars signed on to a letter published Friday accusing President Donald Trump of having "engaged in impeachable conduct" in his dealings in Ukraine.

"There is overwhelming evidence that President Trump betrayed his oath of office by seeking to use presidential power to pressure a foreign government to help him distort an American election, for his personal and political benefit, at the direct expense of national security interests as determined by Congress," they wrote. "His conduct is precisely the type of threat to our democracy that the Founders feared when they included the remedy of impeachment in the Constitution."

The letter comes after four other legal scholars testified at the first House Judiciary Committee impeachment hearing Wednesday, with three of them making the case for impeaching Trump.

The dozens of academics -- hailing from a variety of educational institutions including Yale, Columbia and Rutgers -- said in the letter that they were not taking a stance on whether Trump committed a crime.
"But conduct need not be criminal to be impeachable," the group added. "The standard here is constitutional; it does not depend on what Congress has chosen to criminalize."

They pointed to treason and bribery as the two potential charges prompting impeachment "because they include conduct undertaken not in the 'faithful execution' of public office that the Constitution requires, but instead for personal gain (bribery) or to benefit a foreign enemy (treason)."

The scholars cited Trump's phone call asking the Ukrainian President for a "favor," his and acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney's public statements about the call, Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani's role pursuing Ukrainian investigations, and testimony from top US diplomat in Ukraine Bill Taylor and US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland that Trump held military aid and White House visits as incentives for Ukraine to launch investigations into his political rivals.

The group highlighted impeachment as a key check against "conduct that corrupts elections."

"Corrupting elections subverts the process by which the Constitution makes the president democratically accountable," the scholars wrote. "Put simply, if a President cheats in his effort at re-election, trusting the democratic process to serve as a check through that election is no remedy at all. That is what impeachment is for."[...]

SimonNZ

Trump says people 'flush the toilet 10 times' and seeks solution

"Americans are in the midst of a toilet-flushing epidemic, according to the president.

Speaking to the press on Friday, with the hammer of impeachment poised to fall and countless domestic and international crises to consider, Donald Trump took on a pressing enemy: poor water pressure caused by conservation laws.

"People are flushing toilets 10 times, 15 times as opposed to once. They end up using more water," Trump said while talking with business owners about what he called ''commonsense" steps to end overregulation.

The government, Trump said, was investigating: "We're looking very strongly at sinks and showers," he said, prompting listeners to picture him staring as hard as he could at a tap."[...]

Daverz

Quote from: SimonNZ on December 06, 2019, 08:54:38 PM
"People are flushing toilets 10 times, 15 times as opposed to once.

I guess only demoncraps use plungers.