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

[Daverz]

Corrected for greater accuracy.

Than you. 

[Baron Scarpia]

Hicks was the longest lasting "true believer" in the trump administration iirc.... someone who genuinely bought all the MAGA, build the wall, drain the swamp stuff. Or at least she was painted that way by a lot of the more gossipy news outlets (Politico, NYT, Axios). If it's true I wonder why she flipped. Found out her idol had feet of clay? Thought Trump's ideals were betrayed by the Kushners/Kellys/Pences of the administration? Had a rapid change of political ideology? Got tired of people insinuating she was trying to become Wife #4? Or I mean maybe she did something illegal and turning state's evidence was her way to save herself bc evidently never learned that snitches get stitches >.>

Maybe after 9 hours of testimony in front of a grim congressional committee in which she broke down and admitted to lying, it didn't seem fun anymore.  Then being berated by Trump for being so stupid as to have made such an admission?

I think this may be a big deal for Trump who, despite his posturing as the alpha male and sexual predator, needs some sort of fashion model nearby constantly flattering him in order to maintain his ego. His wives can only satisfy the role for a short time, after which the flattery turns to "keep your f***ing hands off me, you f***ing reptile!"

[Baron Scarpia]

Now I picture Mike Pence, summoned to the Oval Office, in a falsetto voice, "Oh Donald, you're so handsome!"

[Karl Henning]

Corrected for greater accuracy.

Oh, there is that, of course 

[Turner]

"A US teacher who barricaded himself in a classroom and fired a handgun has been taken into custody by police."

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/us-teacher-in-custody-after-firing-gun-at-dalton-high-school-in-georgia-a3778561.html

[Turner]

"When you have to get a billboard to list the Trump administration departures"


https://twitter.com/ThePrettyEdge/status/969040479731011584

[Karl Henning]

"The abuser now does not think that he's committing a crime," one advocate said.

IOW: Just like President Bonespur.

[Karl Henning]

"When you have to get a billboard to list the Trump administration departures"

Cannot laugh for crying.

[Karl Henning]

Who knows?  Maybe it's as simple as, "super-rich people are always able to pull strings."

Questions linger about how Melania Trump, a Slovenian model, scored 'the Einstein visa'

In 2000, Melania Knauss, a Slovenian model dating [White Grievance Boy], began petitioning the government for the right to permanently reside in the United States under a program reserved for people with "extraordinary ability."

[Karl Henning]

And, while our President's incapability to govern goes hand-in-glove with his need to be the admired center of the news cycle's attention, other world leaders have not dozed.

Putin claims Russia has nuclear arsenal capable of avoiding missile defenses

Putin has exactly the weakened US he has strategized for.

[BasilValentine]

And, while our President's incapability to govern goes hand-in-glove with his need to be the admired center of the news cycle's attention, other world leaders have not dozed.

Putin claims Russia has nuclear arsenal capable of avoiding missile defenses

Putin has exactly the weakened US he has strategized for.

Putin's claims are all window dressing for domestic consumption designed to combat voter apathy by promising to restore the glory and power of the CCCP. His fear is that Russians will not bother to vote in the upcoming election, making his re-election look like the pointless scam it is.

As for the actual claims: First of all, the U.S. has never had any defense against the fifty year old ICBMs with MIRVs that are the standard of both nuclear arsenals. I'm not sure where this Pollyanna delusion set in, but I've seen it among my neighbors. There is no defense. There never has been. That's why it's called mutually assured destruction.

The nuclear powered missile that can fly forever and evade defenses (as if some special technology were required for that ) was a project floated and abandoned in the 1960s, about the time the U.S. abandoned research on nuclear powered airplanes. It has been theorized that the underwater drone Putin is discussing, and which he allowed to be pseudo-unwittingly photographed, was just a schematic for a standard torpedo blown up. Window dressing, but probably designed with the secondary goal of helping Trump to justify increased military budgets at the expense of U.S. domestic spending — once again, and as always, to increase domestic instability and dissension here.

[André]

Who knows?  Maybe it's as simple as, "super-rich people are always able to pull strings."

Questions linger about how Melania Trump, a Slovenian model, scored 'the Einstein visa'

In 2000, Melania Knauss, a Slovenian model dating [White Grievance Boy], began petitioning the government for the right to permanently reside in the United States under a program reserved for people with "extraordinary ability."

Somehow, having the names Trump and Einstein joined in the same sentence seems droll - to put it kindly.

[Karl Henning]

Putin's claims are all window dressing for domestic consumption designed to combat voter apathy by promising to restore the glory and power of the CCCP. His fear is that Russians will not bother to vote in the upcoming election, making his re-election look like the pointless scam it is.

As for the actual claims: First of all, the U.S. has never had any defense against the fifty year old ICBMs with MIRVs that are the standard of both nuclear arsenals. I'm not sure where this Pollyanna delusion set in, but I've seen it among my neighbors. There is no defense. There never has been. That's why it's called mutually assured destruction.

The nuclear powered missile that can fly forever and evade defenses (as if some special technology were required for that ) was a project floated and abandoned in the 1960s, about the time the U.S. abandoned research on nuclear powered airplanes. It has been theorized that the underwater drone Putin is discussing, and which he allowed to be pseudo-unwittingly photographed, was just a schematic for a standard torpedo blown up. Window dressing, but probably designed with the secondary goal of helping Trump to justify increased military budgets at the expense of U.S. domestic spending — once again, and as always, to increase domestic instability and dissension here.

Thanks.

[Baron Scarpia]

Regarding Hicks (and others):  Long ago someone pointed out that everyone who associates with this administration is diminished.  The parade of casualties is no longer amusing.

Some have a lot more range for diminishing than others.

[Karl Henning]

Some people have a surprising appetite for The Stain of Trump.

[geralmar]

Katy Tur had positive things to say about Hicks in her book. Painted her as loyal and committed without being a true believer. And the only one who could bring some kind of scheduling order to the chaos.

Long ago someone commented that everyone who associates with this administration is diminished.  The parade of casualties is no longer amusing.

[Karl Henning]

Because he's all showman, and has no talent nor aptitude for actual governing.

[El Tupé's] rejection of due process for gun owners points to his disdain for the rule of law

And:

[El Tupé] announces steel and aluminum tariffs Thursday over objections from advisers and Republicans

[geralmar]

But don't let Pence escape under the radar:

http://www.newsweek.com/mike-pence-abortion-rights-823365

[Karl Henning]

And, while our President's incapability to govern goes hand-in-glove with his need to be the admired center of the news cycle's attention, other world leaders have not dozed.

Putin claims Russia has nuclear arsenal capable of avoiding missile defenses

Putin has exactly the weakened US he has strategized for.

[...] Reuters's Gerry Doyle points out that the United States began development of a similar system during the Cold War. Code-named Project Pluto and tested in the evocatively named Jackass Flats, Nev., it would have similarly added a nuclear-power system to a cruise missile, creating a device called SLAM, or Supersonic Low-Altitude Missile.

Project Pluto missiles would have used a "ramjet" engine, using an intake to capture airflow as the missile flew, heating it with a small nuclear reactor and using that heated air for thrust. (Hypersonic missiles use a "scramjet" engine, the only difference of which is the airflow exiting a scramjet engine is still supersonic.)

Doyle noted on Twitter that a Russian test of a ramjet engine would probably have resulted in detectable radioactive particles, a function of the ramjet engine's design. (That was seen as an advantage during the U.S. design process: Not only could the missile deliver nuclear warheads, it could essentially act as a high-speed dirty bomb.) Interestingly, recent news reports indicate radioactive particles have been identified over northern Europe and Alaska.

The Pentagon told Fox News's Lucas Tomlinson it was aware of a Russian test of a nuclear-powered cruise missile but the system was still under development and had recently crashed in the Arctic.

[Baron Scarpia]

Given that we seem to live in a world dominated by guerrilla wars and sectarian insurgency, renewed focus on nuclear missiles seems to be the depth of idiocy.