US Politics Mega-thread - Page 6423

On December 15 2016 03:47 LegalLord wrote:
Yes, I'm sure we all know the intent of people we don't like is instantly whatever bad thing you could ascribe to them.

On December 15 2016 04:08 On_Slaught wrote:
Milo is at least an intelligent person. Katrina Pierson is as dumb as the day is long. Picking her guarantees more scandals.

Abolishing the daily press briefings? Whatever. He won't be able to avoid the press in general. Neither will every other Republican on the hill.

As President-elect Donald Trump considered Mitt Romney for secretary of state, Trump wanted one thing Romney wouldn't give him: an apology.

Trump was willing to move past Romney's bitter campaign-trail criticism of him. And incoming chief of staff Reince Priebus, who chaired the Republican National Committee during both men's presidential campaigns, convinced Trump there was value in showing he was big enough to bring Romney into the fold.

But top aides, including Kellyanne Conway and Steve Bannon, saw Romney's attacks as unforgivable, according to three sources close to Romney, two of whom are familiar with Trump's transition process.

CNN has learned that Vice President-elect Mike Pence and Priebus also wanted Romney to apologize as a way to smooth over the tension.

After Conway and others attacked Romney publicly -- lobbying against his selection in television interviews -- and more than a week after the two had begun talking, Trump raised the possibility of a public apology with Romney as a way of mollifying those critics, the sources said. He asked Romney to say publicly he was "wrong" about Trump.
Trump personally saw it in business deal terms: He would get the mea culpa he sought from Romney; Romney would get the job he covets.

But Romney -- who titled his own book "No Apology" -- declined.

He offered forward-looking praise for Trump -- starting with the President-elect's election-night speech. But he wouldn't go backward and retract his words from the campaign.

Eventually, Romney's critics persuaded Trump to look elsewhere, and on Monday he tapped ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson as his nominee for secretary of state.

It was the culmination of a selection process that looked like an episode of "Celebrity Apprentice" -- with Romney, Tillerson, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Gen. David Petraeus and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker being paraded in and out of Trump Tower as the President-elect narrowed his list.

The conversations between Trump and Romney began after the former Massachusetts governor called Trump to offer his congratulations.

Trump missed the call. Pence called back -- and then Trump did, as well. Trump said Romney should come in to discuss a position in the Cabinet, a source said. In Romney's conversation with Pence he said the only position he was interested in was the top diplomat job.

Some Republicans saw the conversations as Trump forcing a former foe to grovel -- a move that would also undercut Romney as a future critic.

But Romney "never felt he was being played," a source said.

He had told friends for years that he wanted to serve again, and the only job he was interested in was secretary of state.

He felt he was under "serious" consideration from Trump as the two met twice in person and spoke several times by phone.

"I have a hard time believing that Trump expended all this energy and time to simply tweak Mitt, and that Pence, Reince and others in the President-elect's inner circle would play along," said Dan Senor, a 2012 Romney adviser who remains in close contact with him. "The press was distracted by the theater of the public process, but behind the scenes there were substantive conversations and meetings, which reflected a serious hands-on process by the President-elect and his team; it was impressive."

Trump -- who has a history of striking business deals with one-time opponents -- was "pleasantly surprised at how well the two men got along; was willing to let bygones be bygones," a source said. He told others he was fond of Romney.

"Mitt made it hard on him because when they talked he really liked him," one source said. Trump thought Romney was smart and "looked the part" of America's top diplomat.

One source close to Romney said it was clear Trump was serious about considering him. Even when the selection process was dragging, the source said, Trump would call Romney to check in.

"The idea that there was some grand design to humiliate him is ludicrous," the source said.

On December 15 2016 04:59 Velr wrote:
Many people started with: "well, lets see."
Now he is throwing togheter his cabinet and its like: "this is worse than the nightmares i had before the election even started."

On December 15 2016 05:06 Mohdoo wrote:


At least this will put to rest the question as to whether business people can effectively lead the country at the highest level. If it does turn out that career politicians have been having undue exclusivity, I'm glad we'll figure it out so we have the best people doing things like SoS etc. But if we end up seeing a long chain of barely-blunders, I won't be surprised.

The actual relative smarts of successful people in business/finance is greatly overstated in a lot of circles. Very similar to doctors, who I consider near the bottom when it comes to professionals.

On December 15 2016 04:43 RvB wrote:

He's skipping intelligence briefings not delegating away his power as commander in chief. If there's something important in the briefing Pence can pass the information on. Another possibility is that there are simply too many intelligence briefings and that the president isn't always a necessity.

Even if we go with the assumption that he's delegating away his power as commander in chief why is it a bad thing if he thinks Pence does a better job at that and Trump thinks he's more useful focussing on internal matters. The best man

On December 15 2016 05:11 ticklishmusic wrote:


this is based on my experience, but pre med kids are usually pretty smart, though their knowledge may be limited to their field of study. my freshman year a lot of people i knew were pre med, but after failing that first chem test decided that their passions lay elsewhere, ie business. business classes with the exception of business law were kind of a joke compared to my science classes.

On December 15 2016 05:03 Introvert wrote:


Read the rest at CNN

Even if he didn't go with Romney, his willingness to consider it might at least be a good sign.

On December 15 2016 05:19 xDaunt wrote:


Bah, that's not as fun as my teabagging narrative, but it's probably accurate.

On December 15 2016 05:06 Mohdoo wrote:


At least this will put to rest the question as to whether business people can effectively lead the country at the highest level. If it does turn out that career politicians have been having undue exclusivity, I'm glad we'll figure it out so we have the best people doing things like SoS etc. But if we end up seeing a long chain of barely-blunders, I won't be surprised.

The actual relative smarts of successful people in business/finance is greatly overstated in a lot of circles. Very similar to doctors, who I consider near the bottom when it comes to professionals.

On December 15 2016 04:54 On_Slaught wrote:
His refusal to do the int. hearings comes off as laziness. He doesn't want to go because it's boring to listen to the same or similar information every day. Rather than take a few minutes out of his day, he's relying on others to determine what from the brief is important enough to deem worthy to tell him. This just creates more avenues for information to be lost and all but guarantees that some information won't make it to him.

I mean his job is literally to make major strategic moves. There are plenty of things worth delegating off. Why the fuck would you delegate the one thing which best positions you to do your job?

There is ample evidence that Trump has the attention span of a cat. This is almost certainly a by product of that. What other aspects of the presidency can we expect this tendancy to affect?

On December 15 2016 05:37 LegalLord wrote:

Invokes a sense of irony when you remember when Romney wanted Obama to apologize for his position on some issue or other.

He should have made peace with the Trump loyalists who didn't want him. If he can't do that he shouldn't get a position. Tillerson is better anyways.