US Politics Mega-thread - Page 7564

On May 18 2017 05:21 KwarK wrote:

That was actually Trump.

But yeah, Clarke is a nightmare.

On May 18 2017 05:02 chocorush wrote:
Don't know if anybody posted this, but jesus this guy can't prep for an interview worth shit:

http://www.economist.com/trumptranscript

On May 18 2017 05:24 Wulfey_LA wrote:


This thread has all kinds of fights about fascism without enough concrete examples. Clarke is a real fascist. A true authoritarian worshiper of state violence against dissenting forces (see his BLM comments). He also believes every last big lie Trump can throw out. He endlessly calls for unconstitutional state violence and extra judicial punishment for perceived enemies of the people.

On May 18 2017 05:31 Plansix wrote:

I had forgotten about all the talks about violence toward BLM. And he is a sheriff, so I have no idea why he is involved with national security.

On May 18 2017 05:28 Mohdoo wrote:
My favorite part of this whole mess is the fact that we're only 8% through his presidency. My impression following politics these past 10 years is that scandals of these kinds tend to get progressively worse as times goes on. Over time, political operatives or investigators or what have you tend to make progress bit by bit. While I would not say we are near the point of impeachment at this point, we are remarkably close, considering the fact we're only 8% through his presidency.

On May 18 2017 05:39 Danglars wrote:

You mean 8% through his first term. It's early enough in the game that he could still shake up his twitter habits and administrative setup and head strong into 2020. It's a slow enough start to say this is unlikely, and I agree, but it's still way to early to see one scandal and assume the worst and that he's gone.

On May 18 2017 05:28 Mohdoo wrote:
My favorite part of this whole mess is the fact that we're only 8% through his presidency. My impression following politics these past 10 years is that scandals of these kinds tend to get progressively worse as times goes on. Over time, political operatives or investigators or what have you tend to make progress bit by bit. While I would not say we are near the point of impeachment at this point, we are remarkably close, considering the fact we're only 8% through his presidency.

What's more, all of this insane progress has been during Trump's own presidency. We've all seen throughout the years how investigations into a sitting president or even investigations a sitting president doesn't want to happen can be skewed or delayed and there are lots of ways the president can hinder investigations working against them. Despite Trump's wishes and attempts, this whole Russia thing is just straight up not even close to going away. It has been gaining momentum, bigly.

But even taking a step away from that, all the insider info we get suggests Trump is deeply, deeply troubled and furious about this entire ordeal. I would say Trump's multi-directional, scattered, poorly organized campaign worked well in his favor during the election. It allowed him to adapt quickly. Much, much quicker than the Clinton campaign ever did, partially because they ran the whole campaign as if it was a choreographed dance, immune to change. But that's besides the point. This method of "management" by Trump plain and simply hurts him when trying to govern. I would say he is in a worse place in terms of capability of governing compared to a couple months ago.

I have a really hard time believing his core group of advisers (Kushner, Bannon, Priebus, Ivanka etc) will all be kept around for much longer. And with reports that Kushner was the one trying to get Comey kicked out, in combination with his messy Russia paper-trail, I am beginning to think he'll be the first big fish to fry. Once he starts losing that core group, he is basically an empty vessel.

On May 18 2017 05:39 Danglars wrote:

You mean 8% through his first term. It's early enough in the game that he could still shake up his twitter habits and administrative setup and head strong into 2020. It's a slow enough start to say this is unlikely, and I agree, but it's still way to early to see one scandal and assume the worst and that he's gone.

Donald Trump can only stay focused on intelligence reports if his name is in them, according to officials close to him.

Staff members are being forced to strategically include the President's name in the reports to ensure that he keeps reading and doesn't get distracted, they said. National Security Council officials make sure "as many paragraphs as we can because he keeps reading if he's mentioned", they told Reuters.

The trick is part of a range of techniques developed by officials to keep Mr Trump's infamously short attention span focused on important information.

Officials have also learnt to keep all reports to a single page, and to include as many pictures, maps, charts and graphs as possible.

The President also likes to look at a map of wherever he is reading about, officials said.

"He likes to visualize things," said a senior administration official. "The guy's a builder. He has spent his whole life looking at architectural renderings and floor plans."

The details emerged as people close to the President worried that he may not be able to stick to the script and avoid more problems as he heads out on his first foreign trip. Officials are worried that Mr Trump's lack of focus and attention to detail could cause problems as he visits Arab leaders in Saudi Arabia, Israeli and Palestinian leaders in Israel and the West Bank, the pope at the Vatican, NATO leaders in Brussels and G7 counterparts in Sicily.

One Republican official, who requested anonymity in order to speak freely, said after meeting Trump recently he did not think the president had a firm enough grasp on the nuances of the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"I don't think he understands it," said the official, adding that Mr Trump needed more detailed briefings before leaving on Friday. "I think it's a very difficult challenge and I hope he's going to talk to a lot of smart people."
[...]

On May 18 2017 03:07 ticklishmusic wrote:
stephen miller is writing the speech, this could be interesting

On May 18 2017 05:55 Sermokala wrote:
At some point president lame duck pence will be a better alternative then the open bleeding that trump. For a party who fought obama from doing anything for 8 years even they have to get tired of scandals and worried about the lack of progress on anything.

On May 18 2017 06:07 Plansix wrote:

All three of my super liberal attorneys said that Pence is no questions ask preferable to Trump. This level of instability is dangerous for everyone.

On May 18 2017 06:19 Tachion wrote:

See I definitely thought this as well when I brought it up a few days ago, but it seemed the majority of left leaning posters still thought Trump was preferable to Pence. Some boring ass stability sounds wonderful, I'm tired of this circus.

On May 18 2017 06:23 Plansix wrote:

A bunch of our left leaning posters are not US citizens and don’t live here. Those that do have a valid point that the Republicans can’t push anything forward with the Trump dumpster fire. But they might be shocked at how quickly the wheels can come off this and we get into truly scary areas. Trump can do some really scary stuff that doesn’t even involve the military. Like pull out of NAFTA without replacing it. That would pretty much tank the economy and stock market.

Former Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) is among the candidates President Trump is considering for FBI director, the White House said Wednesday.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Trump is meeting in the afternoon with the ex-Connecticut senator and three other possible replacements for ousted FBI Director James Comey at the White House.

Unlike past FBI directors, Lieberman has no experience as an FBI agent or as a federal judge or prosecutor. The Democrat-turned-Independent was Connecticut attorney general before being elected to the Senate in 1988.

Lieberman endorsed Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential campaign.

Trump is also meeting with acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating (R) and former FBI official Richard McFeely.

Keating worked as an FBI special agent before entering politics. He also served as a U.S. attorney and top Justice Department official during the Reagan administration.

The administration has been interviewing candidates in recent days to replace Comey amid continued fallout over the FBI chief's firing early last week.