The Trump Presidency

[gillianren]

The one thing they do know is that childhood tax benefits now start during pregnancy, which is a back door personhood bill.

[LionKing]

crazy Trump wants to stir unnecessary problems

https://www.livescience.com/61110-us-embassy-move-jerusalem.html?utm_source=notification

[twik]

crazy Trump wants to stir unnecessary problems

https://www.livescience.com/61110-us-embassy-move-jerusalem.html?utm_source=notification

That's an endlessly repeatable post, I think. Just change the link for each unnecessary problem he provokes.

[gillianren]

Indeed.  Though this particular one reinforces my belief that Jerusalem ought to be an international city, part of no country.

[gwiz]

Indeed.  Though this particular one reinforces my belief that Jerusalem ought to be an international city, part of no country.

Wasn't the late King Hussain of Jordan trying to get that done?  Pity his successor doesn't seem interested.

[raven]

... Putin could get the band back together ...

He's on a mission from God.

It's a hundred and eight miles to the White House. We got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses.

[Al Johnston]

... Putin could get the band back together ...

He's on a mission from God.

It's a hundred and eight miles to the White House. We got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses.

Hit it!

[twik]

I wonder if any scientists who voted for Trump can still say they'd do the same after the recent revelation that CDC scientists were warned not to include any budgetary documents that include such controversial words/phrases as "evidence-based" or "science-based" (not to mention "entitlement," "vulnerable," "transgender" or "fetus.") Then the CDC spokeswoman claimed the words weren't banned. No, the message was just given that if you use those terms, you'll not get any government money.

Along with the scrubbing of "climate change" this indicates a wholesale assault on objective science.

[Glom]

Trump is a godsend. We got to side with France, Germany and Spain and a majority of other EU countries, which should hopefully go a wee bit towards diffusing some hostility.

[twik]

I'm reading What Happened, and man, I wish she were President right now.  Also, she's a lot funnier than people give her credit for.  I was horrified, too, to discover that Bill was the first husband at the hospital where Chelsea was born allowed to be in the operating room while his wife was having a C-section, and they only let him in because they didn't want to argue with the governor.

The deep, deep irony is that Trump was not supposed to win; his role was to lose ungraciously and continually call into question the legitimacy of her Presidency (remember he was saying that the election would be rigged all through the primaries and general).  The Russians had a huge pile of dirt (some legit, most made up) ready to spoon-feed Congressional Republicans so that they'd start hearings the day she was inaugurated.  And, while the federal government was distracted and paralyzed, Putin could get the band back together without much interference. 

Of course, a bunch of rednecks in "real America" wrecked that particular plan, and here we are.  The GOP's entire playbook going into 2017 was going to be "oppose Clinton on literally everything"; that's why they can't freaking shut up about her, even though she's now just a private citizen with no real power.  Trump doesn't want to be President, you can tell by his manner and attitude.  He's freaking miserable in the job.  I will legitimately be surprised if he makes it to 2020 without some major health issue. 

I'm just pulling this post from November back up because it fits so well with the story in the Wolff book that's blowing up Washington this week. That gives a sadly hilarious story of Trump's reaction when he realized he was going to win.

It does make me sorry for Melania, though. Yes, she agreed to sell herself to be pawed by an obnoxious old man. But she seems to be a shy, introverted person, and I don't think she realized she was signing up to be a public figure, in a country and language not her own. And inexcusably, the administration has failed to give her a strong support staff that could at least create a public persona comfortable with her role. I can truly believe she wept on realizing this was going to be her life now.

[jfb]

I'm reading What Happened, and man, I wish she were President right now.  Also, she's a lot funnier than people give her credit for.  I was horrified, too, to discover that Bill was the first husband at the hospital where Chelsea was born allowed to be in the operating room while his wife was having a C-section, and they only let him in because they didn't want to argue with the governor.

The deep, deep irony is that Trump was not supposed to win; his role was to lose ungraciously and continually call into question the legitimacy of her Presidency (remember he was saying that the election would be rigged all through the primaries and general).  The Russians had a huge pile of dirt (some legit, most made up) ready to spoon-feed Congressional Republicans so that they'd start hearings the day she was inaugurated.  And, while the federal government was distracted and paralyzed, Putin could get the band back together without much interference. 

Of course, a bunch of rednecks in "real America" wrecked that particular plan, and here we are.  The GOP's entire playbook going into 2017 was going to be "oppose Clinton on literally everything"; that's why they can't freaking shut up about her, even though she's now just a private citizen with no real power.  Trump doesn't want to be President, you can tell by his manner and attitude.  He's freaking miserable in the job.  I will legitimately be surprised if he makes it to 2020 without some major health issue. 

I'm just pulling this post from November back up because it fits so well with the story in the Wolff book that's blowing up Washington this week. That gives a sadly hilarious story of Trump's reaction when he realized he was going to win.

It does make me sorry for Melania, though. Yes, she agreed to sell herself to be pawed by an obnoxious old man. But she seems to be a shy, introverted person, and I don't think she realized she was signing up to be a public figure, in a country and language not her own. And inexcusably, the administration has failed to give her a strong support staff that could at least create a public persona comfortable with her role. I can truly believe she wept on realizing this was going to be her life now.

Personally, I would not put too much stock into Wolff's book.  It's gossip from a highly suspect source (Bannon could claim that the sky was blue and water was wet and I'd still go to Snopes to verify it), and Wolff himself has a reputation as a somewhat sloppy reporter, favoring impact over accuracy. 

I'm sure there are nuggets of truth in there, but slathered under layers of bullshit. 

[Zakalwe]

It does make me sorry for Melania, though. Yes, she agreed to sell herself to be pawed by an obnoxious old man. But she seems to be a shy, introverted person, and I don't think she realized she was signing up to be a public figure, in a country and language not her own. And inexcusably, the administration has failed to give her a strong support staff that could at least create a public persona comfortable with her role. I can truly believe she wept on realizing this was going to be her life now.

Yeah....this "shy introverted person" managed to get from a 2 bed apartment in a former Eastern Bloc country to the White House via the medium of modelling, soft-porn photoshoots some of which included simulated lesbian sex scenes. I cannot think of anyone that less likely fits the description of a "shy introverted person". I think that " single-minded focus", "scheming" and someone that is more than happy to use her sexual talents and attributes to sleep her way to the top is probably far more apt.

[Kiwi]

A rather good editorial from my local newspaper today:--

Manawatu Standard, Tuesday 9 January 2018, page 6
Backfire and fury
Editorial
https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/100394846/backfire-and-fury

   Such is the churning disgrace of the Trump presidency that it’s hard to know who to hold in greater contempt – his treacherous appointees or his loyal ones.
   The lickspittle loyalists seem capable of staring down any camera and not just disregarding, but denying, his monstrous failings as a man, let alone a leader.
   The traitors are just downstream versions of the same. In their vanity they thought they could cunningly manage the man-child, or at least personally prosper from their temporarily high status.
   Some were jettisoned after the forces of official accountability came knocking. Others fell from, well, we hesitate to say, grace. They fell from favour amid the internecine combat of the loose affiliation of warring tribes that the White House promptly became under Donald Trump.
   Among the dumped is chief strategist Steve Bannon. The Republicans rightly saw him as a scornful enemy from the extremities of the Right and Trump’s kids saw him as a Rasputin-like influence on their dad.
   He was a key source for Michael Wolff’s instantly notorious book Fire and Fury, dishing withering criticisms of those around Trump, and the man himself.
   It was almost jolly to hear the president’s top political adviser Stephen Miller call Bannon an "angry, vindictive person", as if this had suddenly become a bad thing in Trumpland.
   Angry and vindictive pretty much describes the greater part of Trump’s electoral catchment. Add boastful and you have a precis of his own campaign speeches.
   Bannon has denied the book’s account of him accusing Donald Trump Jr of treachery to the United States, but he hasn’t backed down on a bunch of other scornful descriptions, including those of "dumb as a brick" Ivanka Trump or her husband Jared Kushner.
   Then we have the who’s-crazy allegations. The book adds fuel to fears that Trump is not just emotionally unstable, but unravelling mentally. To which the president declares himself "a very stable genius". That’s not typically a title that’s self-bestowed.
   And now Bannon, amid the fallout pressure from, among others, funders of his Breitbart News, declares that he is "unwavering" in his support of Trump.
   Such is the state of US politics, where people are prepared, if needs be, to deny the wetness of water. And that includes the host of Republicans, even those who slip coded escape clauses out of their endorsements. Like Secretary of State Rex Tillerson now calling Trump "the most unique president we have ever seen in modern history".
   Quite so.
   Unique as a meat axe.

[jfb]

It does make me sorry for Melania, though. Yes, she agreed to sell herself to be pawed by an obnoxious old man. But she seems to be a shy, introverted person, and I don't think she realized she was signing up to be a public figure, in a country and language not her own. And inexcusably, the administration has failed to give her a strong support staff that could at least create a public persona comfortable with her role. I can truly believe she wept on realizing this was going to be her life now.

Yeah....this "shy introverted person" managed to get from a 2 bed apartment in a former Eastern Bloc country to the White House via the medium of modelling, soft-porn photoshoots some of which included simulated lesbian sex scenes. I cannot think of anyone that less likely fits the description of a "shy introverted person". I think that " single-minded focus", "scheming" and someone that is more than happy to use her sexual talents and attributes to sleep her way to the top is probably far more apt.

There's a bit of a difference between posing in a photo studio and being mobbed by reporters over every stupid thing your husband says.  There are plenty of actors and performers who can bare it all on camera and yet be painfully shy or withdrawn around other people. 

AFAIK, she's not taking an active role in running the WH or participating in any policy discussions, so frankly her past and character are irrelevant and should not be part of the discussion.  Ivanka and Jared are fair game since they obviously have a hand in running the place. 

It's 2018.  Murkians, get thee registered to vote if you aren't already.  Find out who's running for what in your city, state, and congressional district, read up on any bonds and other ballot initiatives (and in Texas, find out what this year's spate of Constitutional amendments will be), and VOTE.  Harangue your family, friends, and neighbors to do the same.  Slap the first person who bitches about gerrymandering (which is a problem, but can be overcome with sufficient turnout). 

We get exactly the government we deserve.  If we think we deserve better, then we have to work for it. 

[gillianren]

I mostly agree, but there are places where gerrymandering cannot be overcome with sufficient turnout; that's the whole point.  Not unless a certain proportion of voters in those districts realize they've been had.  Especially with current voter suppression tactics.