Trump, June 2017: From [Covfefe] with Love

Meantime, problems problems

https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-06-05/kushners-hunting-hard-for-a-loan-to-pay-back-chinese-investors

i really do think the most damaging thing about his presidency will ultimately be the fact that the rest of the world now thinks we're not only assholes, but stupid assholes.

I'm saying nothing.

"now"

how quickly we forget the Iraq War.

He's not exactly the first stupid US president - he's probably the 4th in my lifetime.

xp: TBF, the 30% Trump budget cuts to the IC are win/win for the ideological Left, regardless of weather they're done or not, or they result in successful terrorist attacks or not.

right, because giving more money to the IC is definitely a good counter-terrorism strategy

oh and I'm late to this but the meme that got reposted earlier is dumb and bad and patronizing as hell. for many/most leftists, Sanders *is* a compromise candidate.

One could argue Reagan and W were savants of sorts, with Alzheimer's and dyslexia impairments. With DJT, we're dealing with 70 yr of little exertion + frontotemporal dementia + malignant narcissism + a nihilist Chief Strategist.

Billy Blythe was smart, and how much good did it do us?

George Conway sure is having fun this morning

Very good analysis. https://t.co/7GJxPrfnLS

— George Conway (@gtconway3d) June 5, 2017

not to get all 5D chess but maybe they figure "attacking judges for striking down the ban" is better politics than actually doing the ban
10:37 AM - 5 Jun 2017

this is feeling more and more like the case, though this seems like a bannon move, not trump

Re said strategy:

1/My speculation 4 months ago on possible logic behind Trump's otherwise obviously self-defeating tweets re courts. https://t.co/KVrkVPlltH pic.twitter.com/pM684SlZUi

— Jack Goldsmith (@jacklgoldsmith) June 5, 2017

"now"

― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, June 5, 2017 6:06 PM (seventeen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

how quickly we forget the Iraq War.

― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, June 5, 2017 6:06 PM (seventeen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

well true, but i feel like this is a new level of craven self destructive stupidity that is stupid even by the american standard of stupid.

“We shouldn’t start down the road of psychoanalyzing what people meant on the campaign trail,” acting solicitor general Jeffrey B. Wall told judges at a recent court hearing in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.

So, instead of "psychoanalyzing" Trump, how about the court just reads his statements for what they plainly and directly say and mean? That's plenty good enough for me.

Legal wonkery Twitter thread from same Lawfare guy, worth a read

1/ Trump’s actions since January, & especially in last month, take us so far beyond normal that it’s hard to have any faith in Exec branch.

— Jack Goldsmith (@jacklgoldsmith) June 5, 2017

Cosigning Lord Alfred, and going a bit further, I think neither liberals NOR centrists are really salivating over Comey.

It's more like "any weapon available." No one cares about his majestic height, or about the hardness of his weapon.

I just want the Orange Person thwarted and harmed; personally I don't give a shit whether the means is Comey or Clooney; Russia or Rhode Island.

the hardness of his weapon.

well, except Mrs. Comey

I follow that logic for sure, I guess my skepticism comes with the idea that liberals are going to keep fighting injustice once/when Trump is out, like I didn't see word one about drone strikes or the Saudis or the criminalizing of dissent on my FB timeline during the Obama years because he didn't bring Shame To The Office or whatever. Like by all means get Trump out but for the love of god don't stop anywhere near there. xp

ILX too peniscentric today.

the hardness of his weapon. like I didn't see word one about drone strikes or the Saudis or the criminalizing of dissent on my FB timeline during the Obama years because he didn't bring Shame To The Office or whatever

Again, to each his own. My wall consists of liberals, all of whom mentioned and bemoaned this repeatedly.

Conway, per screenshot, basically now calling out others for not being good counselors to the king

George Conway notes that a true friend criticizes you when you're harming yourself. pic.twitter.com/0O3pmefr3o

— Josh Barro (@jbarro) June 5, 2017

But per Haberman (series of posts worth reading):

This incredible @sbg1 scoop gets at key point of this WH - plenty of ppl tell Trump "no." He often doesn't listen https://t.co/FVoqPOK8E6

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) June 5, 2017

OK, but there's still absolutely no comparing the culture of dissent of now vs then. xp

So, instead of "psychoanalyzing" Trump, how about the court just reads his statements for what they plainly and directly say and mean? That's plenty good enough for me.

― A is for (Aimless), Monday, June 5, 2017 12:29 PM (nineteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Well, that's hardly fair, as it's been well-established that we aren't meant to take the words he says literally, either. Look into his heart.

* insert obvious comment here *

there's absolutely no comparing the culture of now vs then either.

huh?

evol, you might wanna tell that to Teen Vogue

http://www.teenvogue.com/story/obamas-drone-warfare-is-something-we-need-to-talk-about

Again, to each his own. My wall consists of liberals, all of whom mentioned and bemoaned this repeatedly.

I'm with Alfred here, only with the caveat that there were a significant number of black progressives who were posting opinions along the lines of "I hate drones but it is INCREDIBLY suspect the way many of y'all are criticizing their use here" followed up by non-black progressives saying "Awesome, we agree we hate drones!"

Didn't Obama ramp up their use significantly vs. 43? Why would it be suspect to criticize the president over it?

it's entirely valid to criticize him over it. I just hope purity tests and circular firing squads don't give us another four years of DJT in 2020. at this point I'm thinking it's more likely he dies before 2024 than someone actually defeats him in an election.

Michael Bloomberg (I detest him, but):

"Hillary said, 'Vote for me because I'm a woman and the other guy's bad,'" Bloomberg said, adding that too many Democrats have visions of 2020 while they're still figuring out the right message.

"They'll step on each other and reelect Donald Trump," he said, giving Trump "a 55% chance" of getting reelected.

http://www.businessinsider.com/mike-bloomberg-trump-gets-reelected-2017-5

must've missed all the "vote for me because I'm a woman" campaign ads

tbf there were a jillion 'and the other guy's bad' ads

meanwhile Trump got nothing but praise for ragging on Hillary, idgi

I can think of several men but I don't know if I can come up with one single woman in America who I would less rather have as president than Trump.

"women who don't vote for Hillary are bad feminists" / "pro-Bernie women don't exist" was a huge recurring theme throughout the campaign, come on now

i missed those campaign ads too

"Bernie bro" never made it to an ad either but it's still an awfully persistent narrative

yeah if only hillary hadn't spent the bulk of every campaign appearance railing against "bernie bros" we would surely not be in this fix now, bloomberg OTM

tbf, Hillary did send a "vote for me because I'm a woman" message to selected audiences, in the same sense that when Reagan announced his candidacy in Philadelphia, Mississippi he was sending a "vote for me because I'm a racist" message to selected audiences. You can say things that are understood without having to state them literally.

I'm sorry if anything I said indirectly led to H-----y and B----e being invoked, this thread is better the less either of those names is mentioned.

OK, but there's still absolutely no comparing the culture of dissent of now vs then. xp

Have you been hit in the head recently, or do you seriously not understand why this would be (or are you seriously on a "they're both the same" trip)?

yes I agree sorry (again) everyone xp

The persistence of Bernie bros is quite a thing, I'll grant you.

Have you been hit in the head recently, or do you seriously not understand why this would be (or are you seriously on a "they're both the same" trip)?

Not the same, but they both actively fund terror and murder innocents on the regular. I don't think the response to each has been proportional compared to the other.

(and again to be clear, that other guy would not have been much of an improvement on this score)

Aimless, in that case Hillary said "vote for me because I'm a woman" to exactly the same extent as her opponent said "vote for me because I'm a man." By, you know, being a woman. Inexcusable, yeah, I know.

Which is the same extent to which EVERY preceding major-party presidential nominee has said "vote for me because I'm a man."

I think the "I am a woman btw" subtext was a bit stronger than her just existing as a woman, ymp. I think there were occasional overt references to breaking glass ceilings and such. Maybe you didn't notice them because they didn't matter to you. I think many women noticed and appreciated that message.

Reading that piece on the befuddlement of Trump's national security team, I noticed Strobe Talbott and the Brookings Institute. I can't think of a bigger fuck you than mentioning an old Beltway satrap and the liberal touchstone that Nixon wanted firebombed.

I swear I didn't want to relitigate any of this shit, I just find the notion that Trump is SO MUCH worse than his predecessors (in terms of actual policy, not "as a person" or whatever, he's obviously a vile creep) kind of ridiculous. The ~sanctity of the office~ seems to weigh more heavily on the national conscience than dead bodies overseas (which is why Bush Jr. gets to have a bit of press shine at long last - he wasn't so bad, everyone!). I would certainly rather have Hillary in office if only so as to not further embolden domestic creeps along with some other improvements from the current state of affairs but really it's a shame none of them will ever see the Hague