US Politics Thread |OT| SAD TRUMP

[Nintex]

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/965009332042596352

 

 

[benjipwns]

Mike Pence, Tim Tebow, Tony Dungy have all been 'Christian Shamed.' This ugly form of bigotry must stop

Is believing in God a sign of mental illness? Is praying a silly exercise in make-believe – just a big waste of time and a delusional activity?

I certainly don’t think so, nor do most Americans. But on Tuesday, panelists on “The View” on ABC TV mocked Vice President Mike Pence for his Christian faith, calling it “scary” and even saying that his religious beliefs are a kind of “mental illness.”

Such comments are an insult to everyone who holds sincere religious beliefs.

The vice president – a deeply religious man – responded Wednesday to the attack, saying at an event sponsored by Axios: “It’s just simply wrong for ABC to have a television program that expresses that kind of religious intolerance.” Pence added that criticism of anyone who is religiously observant shows how “out of touch some in the mainstream media are.”

What the media and critics haven’t done, and won’t do, is to point out that their attacks on Pence are part of a larger and very disturbing trend in American life – an ugly form of prejudice called Christian shaming. 

We also experienced this sort of Christian shaming when social media flash mobs mocked evangelicals who had called on our nation to pray in the aftermath of terrible shootings (like the one in Parkland, Florida on Wednesday), natural disasters and other harrowing events that have unfolded in recent years.

In the view of these Twitter activists, a Christian’s tweets about prayer are simply a means of avoiding the issue instead of acting upon it.

[Stro]

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/965009332042596352

 

 

I assume that means Republicans that control every branch of the government are hard at work about to pass gun control legislation, otherwise it's their fault when the next shooting happens or something like that

[benjipwns]

do Republicans really control the executive branch though? does anyone at this point?

spoiler (click to show/hide)

other than the deep state of course

[close]

[thehunter116]

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/965079126829871104?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fs9e.github.io%2Fiframe%2Ftwitter.min.html%23965079126829871104

Ahh the sounds of a guilty innocent man. 

[Nola]

I hope there is no rain forecast at Mar A Lago for the foreseeable future, because it certainly seems like this dotty mother fucker is gonna catch another golf cart temper tantrum any day now and get us a constitutional crisis brewing.

[benjipwns]

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/02/17/world/africa/niger-ambush-american-soldiers.html

More than 16 years after 9/11 spurred a broad fight against terrorism, some Americans say it’s time to look at how the country is deploying its forces.

some say...

[thehunter116]

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/965075589274177536?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fs9e.github.io%2Fiframe%2Ftwitter.min.html%23965075589274177536

Won't someone rid me of this wicked pastor?


Jesus Christ he is a monster.

[kingv]

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/965075589274177536?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fs9e.github.io%2Fiframe%2Ftwitter.min.html%23965075589274177536

Won't someone rid me of this wicked pastor?


Jesus Christ he is a monster.

This is such a dumb tweet. Like the whole fbi is just doing theRussia investigation. He is in a position to know better butnis simultaneously too stupid to know better

[agrajag]

do Republicans really control the executive branch though? does anyone at this point?

spoiler (click to show/hide)

other than the deep state of course

[close]

He

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Bernie Sanders

[close]

can't keep getting away with it!

[Stro]

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/965075589274177536?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fs9e.github.io%2Fiframe%2Ftwitter.min.html%23965075589274177536

Won't someone rid me of this wicked pastor?


Jesus Christ he is a monster.

Undecided if this or the tweet about it being the fault of Dems for not passing gun reform during the Obama administration is worse. Both are disgusting and unthinkably tone deaf, but this one has him making the issue about himself, which is bizarre to say the least.

[Mandark]

17 people were shot to death, including 14 teenagers, within days the president is trying to use that to shield himself from an investigation, and my expectations are already so low I'm not really bothered by it.

I'm approaching some kind of faux-Zen state through sheer lack of hope. Not sure if I'd recommend or not.

[kingv]

This:
https://twitter.com/repadamschiff/status/964920178327871488

And this timeline:
https://twitter.com/_notfakenews_/status/964944318590017536

Make me go hmmm.

You can clearly see that Trump was taking action to run for President as early as 2012 or 2013, including retweeting fake Russian twitter accounts urging him to run for President.

[Boredfrom]

17 people were shot to death, including 14 teenagers, within days the president is trying to use that to shield himself from an investigation, and my expectations are already so low I'm not really bothered by it.

I'm approaching some kind of faux-Zen state through sheer lack of hope. Not sure if I'd recommend or not.

You are going to activate your Ultra Instinct

[agrajag]

But Trump says he had no clue he was going to run for president in 2014

spoiler (click to show/hide)

even though he's threatened to run for like the past 6 election cycles

[close]

 

[Joe Molotov]

Okay, enough collusion talk. Can we all just have a sensible chuckle at how this tweet reads like it was written by a 5 y/o?

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/965303158229622785

Today is the big race. It was the Daytona 500. I like to watch the cars go very fast. Brian France is my faverate Nascar person. Cells are bad. My uncle lives in a cell. The End.

[kingv]

Eh, he had better spelling than my kid? But his sentence structure is more simplistic.

[curly]

https://twitter.com/ShimonPro/status/965320802714439683

Lol

[Nola]

Last time Trump had one of these episodes, we lost the FBI's best full-time director/part-time indoor camouflage enthusiast.

[shosta]

https://twitter.com/josheidelson/status/964610765431934977

cultural marxism wins again

Did you actually read this memo?

[Phoenix Dark]

Last time Trump had one of these episodes, we lost the FBI's best full-time director/part-time indoor camouflage enthusiast.

Last time? He goes on morning twitter rants...all the time. Specifically on weekends. 

I'm sure he's mad today but he's usually mad, and I don't really see the point in parsing stuff like this and saying "oh wow he's on edge, he knows it's all over now!"

[Nola]

Last time Trump had one of these episodes, we lost the FBI's best full-time director/part-time indoor camouflage enthusiast.

Last time? He goes on morning twitter rants...all the time. Specifically on weekends. 

I'm sure he's mad today but he's usually mad, and I don't really see the point in parsing stuff like this and saying "oh wow he's on edge, he knows it's all over now!"

I think you might be taking your weekend trip to resetera a bit too much to heart PD(nice post on KCD though).   

Nothing about that post was meant in real seriousness.

Though Trump certainly seems to be more prone to his erratic behavior(mostly of the tweeting variety) when he feels cornered from outside pressures, surrounded with enablers, Fox News, unexpected free time, and a phone.

[curly]

https://twitter.com/josheidelson/status/964610765431934977

cultural marxism wins again

Did you actually read this memo?

No and I don't care about the controversy outside of the labor rights angle

[Oblivion]

https://twitter.com/josheidelson/status/964610765431934977

cultural marxism wins again

It's always interesting when right-wing beliefs clash and seeing which one comes out on top. In a perfect world, at-will firing would only apply to liberals, but alas.

[etiolate]

https://twitter.com/josheidelson/status/964610765431934977

cultural marxism wins again

Did you actually read this memo?

No and I don't care about the controversy outside of the labor rights angle

The thing is the judges misread the memo and used their misunderstanding as their argument. It could be motivated by backing management, but the argument they used showed they didn't read the memo or understand it. 

So the memo and the decision aren't separate.

[curly]

Do you think a Trump-appointed general counsel truly considers the Damore memo terribly offensive and discriminatory? All that matters to him is giving employers maximum leeway in firing and he'll support whatever reading of the memo allows that, he probably doesn't give a damn about this culture wars stuff.

[Nintex]

Though Trump certainly seems to be more prone to his erratic behavior(mostly of the tweeting variety) when he feels cornered from outside pressures, surrounded with enablers, Fox News, unexpected free time, and a phone.

I think it's the other way around this time. Trump held back because the Russia thing was over his head and his lawyers gave him advice on what to say and especially what to Tweet.
He thinks he has been cleared from all charges, so now he can just be himself again. Remember, during the later stages of the campaign Ivanka and Conway occasionally hid is phone if something of note happened to make sure he wouldn't distract from the Clinton (campaign) collapse.

Don Jr. is probably getting trashed by dad for meeting with the Russians in the tower.
I wonder how long Kelly is going to last in this new environment.

This is the Trump from the campaign. Using disasters for his own personal vindication and benefit, trashing Obama, Morning Joe or who else is on TV and threatening to spill the beans to Ted Cruz's wife about his affairs.

[Nola]

I dont want to go out on a limb with the armchair psychology, but nothing in his recent tweets, or him supposedly stewing with his sons at Mar-a-Lago, suggests to me this guy is just thinking himself free and clear and returning to his cocky attack mode campaign ways. The guy has tweeted like 20 times since the news dropped, about 15 of them have had to do with Russia, and in an unusual turn, looking mostly like a weak person scrambling to catch any excuse that flies by his ears and posting it. I don't know what that says, but feeling unshackled and mentally at peace that he is out of the woods is not really how I could read any interpretation of the last 48 hours.

On a side note, any appeal to wrestling the guy's phone from him at sensitive moments kinda goes out the window when he flash tweeted further evidence to obstruction to justice, only able to walk it back by getting Don McGahn to claim authorship.

[etiolate]

Do you think a Trump-appointed general counsel truly considers the Damore memo terribly offensive and discriminatory? All that matters to him is giving employers maximum leeway in firing and he'll support whatever reading of the memo allows that, he probably doesn't give a damn about this culture wars stuff.

I don't know what they secretly think. I'm just stating the reasoning they used. Some think the decision reflects a fear that anything that would bring negative attention has to be snipped in the bud, even if it reveals bias and brings other negative attention.

I can see the argument that the decision is just to protect management, but the memo threatened HR more than upper management. It was likely the HR/Diversity team that leaked it. They are the ones that gain from firing Damore.

[Nintex]

I dont want to go out on a limb with the armchair psychology, but nothing in his recent tweets, or him supposedly stewing with his sons at Mar-a-Lago, suggests to me this guy is just thinking himself free and clear and returning to his cocky attack mode campaign ways. The guy has tweeted like 20 times since the news dropped, about 15 of them have had to do with Russia, and in an unusual turn, looking mostly like a weak person scrambling to catch any excuse that flies by his ears and posting it.

On a side note, any appeal to wrestling the guy's phone from him at sensitive moments kinda goes out the window when he flash tweeted further evidence to obstruction to justice, only able to walk it back by getting Don McGahn to claim authorship.

It's what Conway said and Javanka leaked to Axios.

Personally this worries me more:
https://twitter.com/thomaswright08/status/965139583125028864

[curly]

Do you think a Trump-appointed general counsel truly considers the Damore memo terribly offensive and discriminatory? All that matters to him is giving employers maximum leeway in firing and he'll support whatever reading of the memo allows that, he probably doesn't give a damn about this culture wars stuff.

I don't know what they secretly think. I'm just stating the reasoning they used. Some think the decision reflects a fear that anything that would bring negative attention has to be snipped in the bud, even if it reveals bias and brings other negative attention.

I can see the argument that the decision is just to protect management, but the memo threatened HR more than upper management. It was likely the HR/Diversity team that leaked it. They are the ones that gain from firing Damore.

You're thinking too narrowly. This decision isn't significant because of Google's internal politics, it's significant because of what it mean's for a corporation's freedom to fire employees going forward. Whether it was the HR department or management that wanted him fired doesn't really matter. What's important about this ruling is it enhances capital's power over labor.

[Boredfrom]

Doesn’t feel that Trump is in campaign mode, but his rethoric is not different of what he usually does. Is just that this is his standard MO: attack everything and hope that the right people buy it.

The real difference is that in attack mode he sounds cocky and in the other he sounds desperate

[Nola]

I dont want to go out on a limb with the armchair psychology, but nothing in his recent tweets, or him supposedly stewing with his sons at Mar-a-Lago, suggests to me this guy is just thinking himself free and clear and returning to his cocky attack mode campaign ways. The guy has tweeted like 20 times since the news dropped, about 15 of them have had to do with Russia, and in an unusual turn, looking mostly like a weak person scrambling to catch any excuse that flies by his ears and posting it.

On a side note, any appeal to wrestling the guy's phone from him at sensitive moments kinda goes out the window when he flash tweeted further evidence to obstruction to justice, only able to walk it back by getting Don McGahn to claim authorship.

It's what Conway said and Javanka leaked to Axios.

Personally this worries me more:
https://twitter.com/thomaswright08/status/965139583125028864

I'm not doubting they have attempted, and at times been successful at getting him to put down the phone, but that is a far cry from inferring that somehow the only time to worry about something with Trump being serious is when his phone goes silent, which isn't really borne out by the reality since that Axios piece.

Trump went comparatively nuts over that weekend that it leaked about the Flynn guilty plea and turning witness. Tweeting out about prosecuting his political enemies, attacking the justice Department and FBI, attacking Democrats, culminating in Trump admitting to obstruction of justice once again.

I see this weekend much more in line with that, than anything deeper. Probably because it is going to be what Fox News is talking about all day and that is kinda where Trump gets himself worked up the most often.

[Mandark]

You're thinking too narrowly. This decision isn't significant because of Google's internal politics, it's significant because of what it mean's for a corporation's freedom to fire employees going forward. Whether it was the HR department or management that wanted him fired doesn't really matter. What's important about this ruling is it enhances capital's power over labor.

Yeah, the idea that the NLRB would be trying to protect a particular department within Google is just odd. Its bailiwick is labor-management disputes.

[Nintex]

http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-rick-gates-plea-deal-20180218-story.html

Gates to testify against Manafort.

Pretty crazy to think that if Manafort had not joined the Trump campaign he and Gates would've walked away with everything he had done in Ukraine. 

[Trent Dole]

I dont want to go out on a limb with the armchair psychology, but nothing in his recent tweets, or him supposedly stewing with his sons at Mar-a-Lago, suggests to me this guy is just thinking himself free and clear and returning to his cocky attack mode campaign ways. The guy has tweeted like 20 times since the news dropped, about 15 of them have had to do with Russia, and in an unusual turn, looking mostly like a weak person scrambling to catch any excuse that flies by his ears and posting it.

On a side note, any appeal to wrestling the guy's phone from him at sensitive moments kinda goes out the window when he flash tweeted further evidence to obstruction to justice, only able to walk it back by getting Don McGahn to claim authorship.

It's what Conway said and Javanka leaked to Axios.

Personally this worries me more:
https://twitter.com/thomaswright08/status/965139583125028864

I'm not doubting they have attempted, and at times been successful at getting him to put down the phone, but that is a far cry from inferring that somehow the only time to worry about something with Drumpf being serious is when his phone goes silent, which isn't really borne out by the reality since that Axios piece.

Drumpf went comparatively nuts over that weekend that it leaked about the Flynn guilty plea and turning witness. Tweeting out about prosecuting his political enemies, attacking the justice Department and FBI, attacking Democrats, culminating in Drumpf admitting to obstruction of justice once again.

I see this weekend much more in line with that, than anything deeper. Probably because it is going to be what Fox News is talking about all day and that is kinda where Drumpf gets himself worked up the most often.

Come on man he was just mad that he couldn't golf and thus had more time to shitpost than usual.

[Nola]

That’s pretty much what I am saying. Except that they have all been primarily about one topic, and notably more desperate than usual.

So to me the guy doesn’t appear to be in some place of post Russia euphoria, he’s just locked in mar-a-lago with enablers, Fox News, a phone, and free time to get worked up over this investigation that is not going away.

[Joe Molotov]

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/965676314576543744

#VeryReflective

[Nintex]

The exports have apparently concluded that President #Winner is actually the worst

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/02/19/opinion/how-does-trump-stack-up-against-the-best-and-worst-presidents.html

Still this the swamp, fake news etc

Trump managed to do this without starting a war or crashing the economy.

[thehunter116]

He's worse than a guy literally responsible for a civil war.

 

[seagrams hotsauce]

He's worse than a guy literally responsible for a civil war.

 

Yeah but so is literally every other president according to that list

[curly]

those lists are so bad. Reagan top 10, W not bottom 10. Clinton mad overrated because he was lucky enough to get a boom economy.

[TakingBackSunday]

Also Jackson being that high

[shosta]

he's the father of american democracy

[thehunter116]

he's the father of american democracy

Nixon?

[benjipwns]

35. G.W. Bush   +5
beginning to be redeemed by history as he promised

[benjipwns]

William Henry Harrison got the same score across all three partisan groups, despite being in office for only a month and dying before Congress even came into session (other than a temporary one to approve his cabinet before he got sick), you can't give him 19 for that, you either leave him off or score him perfect, no inbetweens.

We're never going to get Wilson below 50% are we. 72/62/61 smh

They never ask for reasons on these, even if just for top five or so, plus recent W. and Obama or whatever. I still like that WSJ book for at least having someone write a case for every President which was an unique take on it.

Other than Trump, Democrats didn't rank a two term President lower than #31 (Nixon) and Republicans didn't rank a two-term President lower than #29 (Nixon) while Independents ranked one all the way down at #36 (Nixon). Next were W. Bush (#30 for D, #31 for I, and #23 for R's) and then Cleveland (#23 D's and I's) while Republicans went Madison (#22) before Cleveland (#20).

The highest ranked defeated after one-term Presidents are Adams (#15 D's and #10's I's, probably because of that HBO series) and H. W. Bush (#11 I's and #11 R's, though they didn't vote for him like that 25 years back). Republicans went for Taft next (#14) before Adams (#17). Democrats went for H.W. and J.Q. (#18 and #20). I's third place was also J.Q. but at #24. (Although technically, Obama at #6, #12 and #16 is the highest ranked non-legally elected President, as Hayes is down at #28 among all three groups.)

[benjipwns]

Respondents were asked if they were to add one president to those currently represented on Mt. Rushmore, who would it be, and then allowed to select any past or current president. The number and percentage of times each president was selected was then calculated.

how many said none? how many said we should blast that eyesore made by a guy who ran out of Klan funding for Stone Mountain off the face of it? i'll compromise and let us blow just the two on the right off

lmao i didn't know this sign had been put up:

[Cindi Mayweather]

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/01/republican-rising-stars/551657/

Worth noting and taking notes for this primary and mid-terms.

[benjipwns]

They won't have a chance against the J. C. Watts 2020 machine.

[benjipwns]

The Sanders/Putin/Obama conspiracy striking from the bench now:

On Friday, Judge Emmet Sullivan issued an order in United States v. Flynn that, while widely unnoticed, reveals something fascinating: A motion by Michael Flynn to withdraw his guilty plea based on government misconduct is likely in the works.

Mueller must now provide Flynn all exculpatory evidence: Significantly, if the information is favorable to Flynn but the special counsel’s office believes it is immaterial, government attorneys must nonetheless provide the evidence to Sullivan to allow him to make the call.

More and more evidence now that Obama purposely allowed 2016's Pearl Harbor/9-11 to happen and did nothing about it. Indicating he was part of the Sanders/Putin/Stein/Rice/Uranium One/Jeb! collusion probably for years.

[shosta]

lmao i didn't know this sign had been put up:
(Image removed from quote.)

Brought to you by Fark.com: Democracy Dies in Darkness.

[kingv]

The Sanders/Putin/Obama conspiracy striking from the bench now:

On Friday, Judge Emmet Sullivan issued an order in United States v. Flynn that, while widely unnoticed, reveals something fascinating: A motion by Michael Flynn to withdraw his guilty plea based on government misconduct is likely in the works.

Mueller must now provide Flynn all exculpatory evidence: Significantly, if the information is favorable to Flynn but the special counsel’s office believes it is immaterial, government attorneys must nonetheless provide the evidence to Sullivan to allow him to make the call.

More and more evidence now that Obama purposely allowed 2016's Pearl Harbor/9-11 to happen and did nothing about it. Indicating he was part of the Sanders/Putin/Stein/Rice/Uranium One/Jeb! collusion probably for years.

I thought this was a serious article until I realized they were using the memo as a source.

Edit: I read a bit more about this, and it might be the dumbest conspiracy ever.

[Phoenix Dark]

Also Jackson being that high

Fuck me. I mean, say what you want about the tenets of Indian genocide, Dude, at least it's an ethos.

[Raist]

Also Jackson being that high

Fuck me.

No.

[Joe Molotov]

Also Jackson being that high

Fuck me.

No.

I doubt you’re packing anything that’s up to PD’s standards.

[Raist]

Like any other (former) NeoGAF member, my dong is 12" long thankyouverymuch.

[Nola]

Alex Van Der Zwaan, a former attorney at an international law firm, pleaded guilty to lying to federal agents about the last time he communicated with Paul Manafort’s longtime business partner, Rick Gates. Van Der Zwaan is the latest figure swept up in Robert Mueller’s expansive probe of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election to admit to the charges against him.

Mueller’s interest in Van Der Zwaan, who helped produce a report about a contentious trial in Ukraine at Manafort’s behest, may be a signal that the special counsel is ramping up pressure on Manafort—whose connections to Russia and high-level role on the Trump campaign could prove invaluable to Mueller’s probe.

Gates is reportedly nearing his own plea deal with Mueller, according to the Los Angeles Times, but Manafort has continued to fight the charges he faces. His uphill battle to prove his innocence, however, will get steeper with Van Der Zwaan’s guilty plea.

“Manafort is looking at 10 years in prison and is approaching 70 years of age,” said the former federal prosecutor Jeff Cramer, now managing director at Berkley Research Group. “I don’t think he wants to risk spending that time in Cellblock D. The next inquiry is what, if anything, does Manafort know with respect to the Russian contacts with the Trump transition team or administration.”

William Yeomans, a former deputy assistant attorney general who spent 26 years at the Justice Department, agreed. “Mueller wants to put enough pressure on Manafort by making his conviction appear unavoidable to convince him to plead and cooperate,” Yeomans told me. “Manafort, doubtless, has a great deal to offer regarding the campaign’s contacts with Russia.”

One month later, Mueller’s team accused Manafort and Gates of using “one of their offshore accounts to funnel $4 million to pay secretly” for the 300-page Tymoshenko report. Manafort has denied all of the charges, but  Skadden could shed more light on the extent to which Manafort was involved in hiring and paying the firm on Yanukovych’s behalf.

Van Der Zwaan’s father-in-law, Khan, owns Russia’s Alfa Bank along with Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven. The three billionaires sued BuzzFeed News last year over its decision to publish a dossier written by the former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele that alleged, among other things, Alfa Bank’s involvement in Russia’s interference in the 2016 election.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/02/mueller-van-der-zwaan/553793/

Not that it wasn't already widely assumed, but Manafort seems fucked. Especially now that you have another person turning state's witness that can corroborate things on the financial end.

[Mandark]

Always felt like Manafort was fucked, in that his business model seemed to rely on a low level of legal scrutiny.

I hope for his sake that the dudes he owes that $17 million to are understanding about the whole situation.

[benjipwns]

Yeah, I never thought Manafort had good prospects, even had Mueller not roped his case into his purview. This is arguably good for him considering the feds will want to protect the case as the biggest fish.

What he's facing is nothing considering his history. This guy was working for Mobutu, Marcos, etc. his deals with Yanukovych were more like typical consultancy rip-offs. He has all kinds of bad loans that long predated the Ukraine stuff. He was already under FBI investigation for like two years before he joined the Trump campaign.

iirc, the feds are the one who by all accounts essentially told Trump to kick Manafort out of his campaign.