Trump

[Digby]

There's over a 100 pages of this total and utter bollocks. Some of it is in fairness true, but only true from a certain point of view and if you ignore much else that's known, or it's true but just not relevant.

[morepork]

Back on Trump, though I accept Morepork never lost contact with Trump for even a moment, I see the GOP have released their answer to the Congressional report into Trump using his office to commit crimes. And whilst it's not shocking in that they have doubled down over and over when it comes to backing Trump over reality it is shocking that any serious adult is willing to use public office to deny reality. I'd say for shame but I cannot imagine they feel any.

Hey. Fuck you buddy.

[Digby]

Back on Trump, though I accept Morepork never lost contact with Trump for even a moment, I see the GOP have released their answer to the Congressional report into Trump using his office to commit crimes. And whilst it's not shocking in that they have doubled down over and over when it comes to backing Trump over reality it is shocking that any serious adult is willing to use public office to deny reality. I'd say for shame but I cannot imagine they feel any.

Hey. Fuck you buddy.

I don't judge your seeking a role as a 21st Century groom of the stool

[Digby]

Worth noting, as it seems to be going through on the quiet, that Trump has increased the US exposure to trade wars in the last week, both in Europe and Latin America. And the coverage of the process of Donald is drowning out coverage of his actuality

[morepork]

It's constitutional law Vs. Twitter at the moment.

Fuck me.

[Digby]

More sterling work from team orange as they push through measures that'll make it harder for the poorest Americans to gain access to food. This vital work to reduce the government's role in public life and reduce the federal budget is probably less than 10% of the subsidies team orange are paying to farmers to make up for team orange's pointless and harmful trade wars

[morepork]

The department of agriculture runs both the food stamp program (SNAP) and has overseen the Market Facilitation Program (bail outs for farmers smacked down by trade self-harm policy). Its a callous and amateur attempt to balance the books. Bleeding to death from self-inflicted wounds. Multiply this by however many departments are similarly rudderless and you start to get a great picture of the Art of the Deal. It is almost an art form to be this adept at making the wrong decision in any given situation.

[WaspInWales]

.... It is almost an art form to be this adept at making the wrong decision in any given situation.

Is this the faintest shoots of admiration for Trump mp?

I knew you'd come around eventually [emoji6]

Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk

[Mikey Brown]

Trump shocks the world with a drastic U-turn on his stance on abortion. Really did not see this one coming. I wonder how Pence feels?

[Digby]

Trump shocks the world with a drastic U-turn on his stance on abortion. Really did not see this one coming. I wonder how Pence feels?

What point is he even trying to make? He surely can't mean that, did he correct himself and start using words in some rational sense of order?

[Digby]

Dems bringing the big guns and going for obstruction of justice rather than obstruction of congress

[morepork]

Incredibly, or maybe not, Rudy Fuckface Gullibaws is back in Ukraine trying to fix the leaks on the conspiracy theory that appears to be the foundation for the defence against impeachment:

The president's personal attorney spent last week in Ukraine meeting with current and former officials in pursuit of damaging information about Trump's political rivals, including 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.

Photos posted on social media show Giuliani met during the week with a former Ukrainian diplomat who has propagated an unsubstantiated theory that Ukraine meddled to help Democrats in the 2016 election. He also huddled with a Ukrainian lawmaker who proposed a joint corruption investigation between the U.S. and Ukraine.

The meetings were documented by One America News (OAN), a conservative network that traveled with Giuliani to Ukraine.

It's unclear whether Trump was aware of Giuliani's meetings ahead of time.

"I just know he came back from someplace, and he's going to make a report, I think to the attorney general and to Congress," Trump told reporters on Saturday. "He says he has a lot of good information. I have not spoken to him about that information."


It's fucking comical.

[WaspInWales]

Incredibly, or maybe not, Rudy Fuckface Gullibaws is back in Ukraine trying to fix the leaks on the conspiracy theory that appears to be the foundation for the defence against impeachment:

The president's personal attorney spent last week in Ukraine meeting with current and former officials in pursuit of damaging information about Trump's political rivals, including 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.

Photos posted on social media show Giuliani met during the week with a former Ukrainian diplomat who has propagated an unsubstantiated theory that Ukraine meddled to help Democrats in the 2016 election. He also huddled with a Ukrainian lawmaker who proposed a joint corruption investigation between the U.S. and Ukraine.

The meetings were documented by One America News (OAN), a conservative network that traveled with Giuliani to Ukraine.

It's unclear whether Trump was aware of Giuliani's meetings ahead of time.

"I just know he came back from someplace, and he's going to make a report, I think to the attorney general and to Congress," Trump told reporters on Saturday. "He says he has a lot of good information. I have not spoken to him about that information."


It's fucking comical.

Well that's the impeachment hearings sorted then. No need to continue, and no doubt arrest warrants will be issued for the Bidens, Obamas, Clintons and Pelosi.

[emoji848]

Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk

[Digby]

Why, why, why would you let Rudy make a report to the AG? That basically announces in crystal clear fashion he isn't just a private citizen that Trump could try and distance himself from. They can't even do basic cover up of a crime in remotely competent fashion if that's their thinking

[Digby]

Btw, if anyone ever has to make a speech to the Israeli American Council maybe don't include some of the phrases did Trump at the 2019 summit just gone, Trump went with such inspirational moments as:

on peace between Israel and Palestine '...they say that's the toughest of all deals, if Jared Kushner can't do it it can't be done...'

on security at the US Southern border '...we're winning after years and years of losing, we're stopping drugs at a level that has never happened, unfortunately the drugs become worse, they become bigger quantities, you have no idea what's happening, they're being smuggled in from all parts of the world, but we've never had anything like it and we're building a wall...' - tough to say what I like more in this section, whether it's that the drugs are getting worse in the face of all the winning, or that whilst he's giving them an update he's conceding that even with the benefit of his update people can have no idea what's happening

but probably my favourite line in the speech to the very pro Israeli audience, and clearly big fans of Trump was the very weird comment

'I know you very well, you're brutal killers'

[morepork]

You forgot the reference to money-hording stereotypes of past propaganda.


Meanwhile, President whiny little bitch doesn't like that his FBI head hasn't fabricated a glowing endorsement of his actions in an internal inquiry of FBI actions over suspected election interference in 2016. An inquiry set up by whiny bitch's own people. With monotonous predictability, the smart phone-warrior attacks on credibility have started, presumably as a prelude to dismissal. Not thick enough to do that twice,I hear you say?

[gransoporro]

[quote="morepork”] Not thick enough to do that twice,I hear you say?[/quote]

When it comes to president Trump and his well established MO, there is no such thing.

He is hammering Fox News every time they host a Democrat or he doesn’t get glowing endorsements. Surely He will hammer his own administration for the same reasons.

[Digby]

It's not even just Trump attacking his own Department of Justice, the Inspector General and the head of the FBI, the head of the DoJ William Barr is attacking his own troops too, almost certainly to try and placate Trump.

Barr is in simple terms failing to act as the Attorney General, he's representing Trump and not the American people. What consequences there might be for that I don't know, but it's shameful for a party that once supposed it was strong on law and order, and they show no signs of growing up.

[Son of Mathonwy]

It's not even just Trump attacking his own Department of Justice, the Inspector General and the head of the FBI, the head of the DoJ William Barr is attacking his own troops too, almost certainly to try and placate Trump.

Barr is in simple terms failing to act as the Attorney General, he's representing Trump and not the American people. What consequences there might be for that I don't know, but it's shameful for a party that once supposed it was strong on law and order, and they show no signs of growing up.

So... not much different from our Attorney General then.

[morepork]

It's not even just Trump attacking his own Department of Justice, the Inspector General and the head of the FBI, the head of the DoJ William Barr is attacking his own troops too, almost certainly to try and placate Trump.

Barr is in simple terms failing to act as the Attorney General, he's representing Trump and not the American people. What consequences there might be for that I don't know, but it's shameful for a party that once supposed it was strong on law and order, and they show no signs of growing up.

So... not much different from our Attorney General then.

That would have to be pretty bad indeed. Barr is astounding in his hypocrisy and outright lies. The DOJ is fucked. It certainly no longer serves the public interest. America will take decades to recover from this shit show, if ever. This government desperately needs some diversity before Jim Crow laws make a come back.

[Digby]

It's not even just Trump attacking his own Department of Justice, the Inspector General and the head of the FBI, the head of the DoJ William Barr is attacking his own troops too, almost certainly to try and placate Trump.

Barr is in simple terms failing to act as the Attorney General, he's representing Trump and not the American people. What consequences there might be for that I don't know, but it's shameful for a party that once supposed it was strong on law and order, and they show no signs of growing up.

So... not much different from our Attorney General then.

That would have to be pretty bad indeed. Barr is astounding in his hypocrisy and outright lies. The DOJ is fucked. It certainly no longer serves the public interest. America will take decades to recover from this shit show, if ever. This government desperately needs some diversity before Jim Crow laws make a come back.

I don't think our AG is at the same level. Okay he might be supporting a government position I happen to think batshit crazy, but he is only advising the government on that position, he's not acting as a personal lawyer to the PM

[Son of Mathonwy]

So... not much different from our Attorney General then.

That would have to be pretty bad indeed. Barr is astounding in his hypocrisy and outright lies. The DOJ is fucked. It certainly no longer serves the public interest. America will take decades to recover from this shit show, if ever. This government desperately needs some diversity before Jim Crow laws make a come back.

I don't think our AG is at the same level. Okay he might be supporting a government position I happen to think batshit crazy, but he is only advising the government on that position, he's not acting as a personal lawyer to the PM

I take your point, but it doesn't seem too different in effect. He is acting for Johnson and not in the interest of the British people, unless advising that a five week prorogation is legal or saying that an elected parliament has no moral right to stand is in the interest of the people.

[Digby]

That would have to be pretty bad indeed. Barr is astounding in his hypocrisy and outright lies. The DOJ is fucked. It certainly no longer serves the public interest. America will take decades to recover from this shit show, if ever. This government desperately needs some diversity before Jim Crow laws make a come back.

I don't think our AG is at the same level. Okay he might be supporting a government position I happen to think batshit crazy, but he is only advising the government on that position, he's not acting as a personal lawyer to the PM

I take your point, but it doesn't seem too different in effect. He is acting for Johnson and not in the interest of the British people, unless advising that a five week prorogation is legal or saying that an elected parliament has no moral right to stand is in the interest of the people.

But that's still government policy, as mental as I might find it. And it'd be worth noting a lot of legal experts weren't expecting the decision we got as they like Cox assumed the courts wouldn't want to get involved. Barr is getting stuck into the crimes of Trump including spinning his conspiracy theories even above the findings of his own DoJ, and that seems to be very different, at least to me

[Son of Mathonwy]

I don't think our AG is at the same level. Okay he might be supporting a government position I happen to think batshit crazy, but he is only advising the government on that position, he's not acting as a personal lawyer to the PM

I take your point, but it doesn't seem too different in effect. He is acting for Johnson and not in the interest of the British people, unless advising that a five week prorogation is legal or saying that an elected parliament has no moral right to stand is in the interest of the people.

But that's still government policy, as mental as I might find it. And it'd be worth noting a lot of legal experts weren't expecting the decision we got as they like Cox assumed the courts wouldn't want to get involved. Barr is getting stuck into the crimes of Trump including spinning his conspiracy theories even above the findings of his own DoJ, and that seems to be very different, at least to me

Honestly, I don't know what the remit of the US Attorney General is. Is he meant to act for a President when being impeached?

[Digby]

I take your point, but it doesn't seem too different in effect. He is acting for Johnson and not in the interest of the British people, unless advising that a five week prorogation is legal or saying that an elected parliament has no moral right to stand is in the interest of the people.

But that's still government policy, as mental as I might find it. And it'd be worth noting a lot of legal experts weren't expecting the decision we got as they like Cox assumed the courts wouldn't want to get involved. Barr is getting stuck into the crimes of Trump including spinning his conspiracy theories even above the findings of his own DoJ, and that seems to be very different, at least to me

Honestly, I don't know what the remit of the US Attorney General is. Is he meant to act for a President when being impeached?

I wouldn't think so. But this wouldn't be the first president to confuse government lawyers with his own, Clinton really annoyed a lot of Republicans during his impeachment with his use of DoJ resources

The AG would be able to speak to whether the process impacted any official functions/duties, beyond that I assume it would be private advice to a friend if the AG wanted to say anything. And the AG would probably be able to speak to what they should have done, so for example the AG I'm sure could advise it isn't legal for Trump to have put a hold on money being paid to Ukraine, but I don't see how an AG could speak to what the defence for that criminality should be during an impeachment for abuse of power