The Former Trump Presidency Thread

Zarathud · Post by **Zarathud** » Mon Feb 27, 2017 9:45 pm

His Orangeness had others make the calls, so his stubby little fingers could rest for his next tweet. Or Putin's people made the call to deliver their instructions.

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Tue Feb 28, 2017 12:08 am

Max Peck wrote:
“As of right now, I don’t have any evidence of any phone calls. It doesn’t mean they don’t exist. . . . What I’ve been told by many folks is that there’s nothing there,” Nunes (R-Calif.) said.

Nunes contended there was no need at this time for a special prosecutor to investigate allegations of contact between Russian officials and Trump campaign aides.

This statement is amazing. He's saying that he personally right now doesn't have evidence, that it may or may not exist, but that the fact that he's been told by "many folks" that there's nothing there is sufficient for there not to be an investigation.

For context, the ranking democrat on the committee said that they haven't reviewed any documents or taken any testimony. Which is consistent with Nunes's "I don't actually want to investigate this" statement above.

PLW · Post by **PLW** » Tue Feb 28, 2017 12:25 am

To be fair.. I never see much when my eyes are closed, either.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

Defiant · Post by **Defiant** » Tue Feb 28, 2017 12:42 am

Archinerd wrote: Trump actually does do a pretty good job of doing what he says he's going to do. His policies are just based on lies.

The flaw with that line of reasoning is that he was that he was 1) often very vague and 2) he took many positions on many issues

It's easy to say you've followed through on something you've said when you were intentionally vague and took multiple positions on lots of issues.

(And yes, his policies are based on lies, too)

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Tue Feb 28, 2017 1:15 am

Remember the good old days, when Trump (knowing more than the generals) had a secret plan for destroying IS?

Pentagon delivers draft plan to defeat Islamic State to White House

A Pentagon-led preliminary plan to defeat Islamic State was delivered to the White House on Monday and U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis was expected to brief senior administration officials, a Defense Department spokesman told reporters.

Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis told reporters that it was the framework for a broader plan and looked at Islamic State around the world, not just Iraq and Syria.

Davis said the plan would define what defeating Islamic State meant and was one that would "rapidly" defeat the militant group.

He added that Mattis would discuss the plan, which is primarily a written one with accompanying graphics, with members of the Cabinet-level Principals Committee.

I'm a little disappointed to find that it is primarily written, with graphics. I was hoping for something involving interpretive dance.

Defiant · Post by **Defiant** » Tue Feb 28, 2017 2:58 am

Trump reportedly considering nixing anti-Semitism envoy as part of budget plan

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Tue Feb 28, 2017 3:07 am

Max Peck wrote:Remember the good old days, when Trump (knowing more than the generals) had a secret plan for destroying IS?

Pentagon delivers draft plan to defeat Islamic State to White House
A Pentagon-led preliminary plan to defeat Islamic State was delivered to the White House on Monday and U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis was expected to brief senior administration officials, a Defense Department spokesman told reporters.

Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis told reporters that it was the framework for a broader plan and looked at Islamic State around the world, not just Iraq and Syria.

Davis said the plan would define what defeating Islamic State meant and was one that would "rapidly" defeat the militant group.

He added that Mattis would discuss the plan, which is primarily a written one with accompanying graphics, with members of the Cabinet-level Principals Committee.
I'm a little disappointed to find that it is primarily written, with graphics. I was hoping for something involving interpretive dance.

Ah yes, the great Powerpoint army......

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Tue Feb 28, 2017 3:39 am

Ralph-Wiggum wrote:
Kraken wrote: At least NASA should be safe, if the rumors about Trump's (literal) moonshot are true. NASA has been directed to explore making the first flight of Orion crewed, essentially duplicating Apollo 8, and Trump would like to see that happen before the 2020 election. If NASA wants to protect their budget I'm sure they'll find that it's feasible.
I hadn't heard about this. So the plan is to do what we did 50 years ago or is there something more that I'm missing? I'm all for space flight, but that seems a pretty big waste of money when we could be using it for other things (manned mission to Mars?).

Max Peck covered it. NASA is cautious. Trump is not cautious.

Neither is Elon Musk, who has announced that he, too, wants to duplicate Apollo 8, and he wants to do it next year. That's even bolder than Trump's reelection stunt if they follow through. The SpaceX capsule isn't even man-rated yet, the heavy booster hasn't flown, and their cargo booster blows up more often than one would like.

Musk's focused on Mars. Officially, so is NASA. But it's looking more and more likely that NASA's going to try to beat China to the moon in the '20s.

stessier · Post by **stessier** » Tue Feb 28, 2017 10:18 am

Lengthy NYT piece on Bannon, Sessions, and the Justice Department.

Department of Justification
Stephen Bannon and Jeff Sessions, the new attorney general, have long shared a vision for remaking America. Now the nation’s top law-enforcement agency can serve as a tool for enacting it.

BY EMILY BAZELONFEB. 28, 2017

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Tue Feb 28, 2017 10:33 am

Business Insider

In a time of extreme policy confusion, 3% GDP growth is one of the only firm targets we have to hang onto.

The problem is that in interview after interview, Donald Trump and his surrogates have demonstrated that they have no idea how to get there.

Take, for example, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross' confirmation hearing. He told senators that a combination of tax reform, a more self-sufficient energy policy, and increasing exports would do the trick.
...
Chief White House Economic Adviser Gary Cohn has also talked about the magic path to 3% GDP growth, mostly saying that tax reform and deregulation would get us there. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the target was "very achievable" and spouted the same lines.

Unfortunately, that's not how GDP growth works.

GDP growth is a function of how many workers enter the workforce and how productive those workers are. It has nothing to do with energy consumption or how much we export — unless that manages to bring in more workers.

"The problem for the Trumpians is that we've had eight years of recovery," Lee Branstetter, a professor of economics at Carnegie Mellon University, told Business Insider. "Now unemployment is well below 5%, and there's just not a lot of slack in the US labor market. ... It's essentially mathematically impossible to get the growth they're talking about."
...
A lot of Trump's ideas — like increasing the defense budget, cutting taxes, and slashing budgets for tiny programs — come from the Reagan playbook.

GDP growth was stronger during his presidency, but it wasn't because of those policies. Again, it was a function of demographics. Reagan, more like Obama, took office during a deep recession, when there was plenty of slack in the labor market.

"Back in the '80s, baby boomers were coming into the labor force, and many women were entering the workforce for the first time, too," Branstetter said. "That resulted in the workforce increasing by 1.7%, and because of technological advancement, productivity growth was running at about 1.7% as well."

That's where you get your 3% GDP growth number.

Zarathud · Post by **Zarathud** » Tue Feb 28, 2017 11:41 am

Instead, Trump is going to shrink the labor force and discount education. We might get a one time burst of investment in worker-replacing technology paid by tax breaks.

The border tax is going to cause its own economic chaos.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Tue Feb 28, 2017 1:24 pm

Step 1: Gut the government workforce
Step 2: Claim it is inefficient and the functions need to be privatized
Step 3: Profit!!

AP:

6:56 a.m.

President Donald Trump acknowledges that there remains hundreds of unfilled jobs in his administration, but says "they're unnecessary to have."

In an interview with Fox News Channel's "Fox & Friends" that aired Tuesday, Trump says he has no intention of filling many of the open positions.

He says, "I say, 'What do all these people do?' You don't need all those jobs."

Trump also says that some are looking to criticize him for eliminating those positions, but he adds, "That's not a bad thing. That's a good thing. We're running a very good, efficient government."

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Tue Feb 28, 2017 1:33 pm

If I rip open an old watch and shake out the gears, then pick up a few of them and stuff them back in, I can't close it up and then declare "This works great!" as I show people how the hands on the front just flop and spin without control. The only objective you can possibly accomplish with that is supporting people who hate time and want to live without it.

The only people who are going to benefit from what Trump is doing will be large scale businesses who will be allowed to plunder and ravage the American landscape with impunity until we spend 30 years trying to rein them in. It's not at all unsettling that Trump and his clan will be riding that charge while screaming "PROFIT!!!" after he's left office.

tgb · Post by **tgb** » Tue Feb 28, 2017 3:20 pm

Can someone definitively say what time Fuckhead's speech is today? I've tried Googling and have come up with 3 different answers - 5 EST, 7 EST and 9 EST. Which is correct?

Unagi · Post by **Unagi** » Tue Feb 28, 2017 3:23 pm

tgb wrote:Can someone definitively say what time Fuckhead's speech is today? I've tried Googling and have come up with 3 different answers - 5 EST, 7 EST and 9 EST. Which is correct?

I am hearing it's 9:00 EST

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Tue Feb 28, 2017 3:23 pm

tgb wrote:Can someone definitively say what time Fuckhead's speech is today? I've tried Googling and have come up with 3 different answers - 5 EST, 7 EST and 9 EST. Which is correct?

I really don't know - but I'm inclined to think the NY Times did some checking and got it right.

NY Times wrote:Mr. Trump’s address is scheduled to begin shortly after 9 p.m. The New York Times will be providing live coverage.

Page last updated at 1:36pm

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Tue Feb 28, 2017 3:46 pm

I don't think I need to listen to an hour of rambling bullshit. I'll just catch the summary on fake news sites tomorrow.

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Tue Feb 28, 2017 3:49 pm

NickAragua wrote:I don't think I need to listen to an hour of rambling bullshit. I'll just catch the summary on fake news sites tomorrow.

Yup.

As a side note, I hope that somebody's organizing Nielsen families to not watch.

Sepiche · Post by **Sepiche** » Tue Feb 28, 2017 3:51 pm

The Root has a drinking game for anyone interested:
http://www.theroot.com/the-donald-trump ... 1792821218

As long as he stays on the 'prompter it shouldn't result in too much alcohol poisoning.

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Tue Feb 28, 2017 3:54 pm

Sepiche wrote:The Root has a drinking game for anyone interested:
http://www.theroot.com/the-donald-trump ... 1792821218

As long as he stays on the 'prompter it shouldn't result in too much alcohol poisoning.

Unless his aides have finally managed to nerve staple him, he won't confine himself to the teleprompter.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Tue Feb 28, 2017 4:33 pm

ThinkProgress

In an interview with the Miami Herald published Sunday, Bill Owens — father of Chief Ryan Owens, the 36-year-old Navy SEAL who died during President Trump’s first military operation — criticized the Yemen raid, and said he doesn’t have any interest in talking with Trump.

“Why at this time did there have to be this stupid mission when it wasn’t even barely a week into [President Trump’s] administration?” Owens said. “For two years prior… everything was missiles and drones (in Yemen)… Now all of a sudden we had to make this grand display?”

Trump was asked about Owens’ comments during a Fox & Friends interview that aired Tuesday morning. He responded by trying to blame President Obama for a mission Trump gave final approval for over dinner with his advisers during his first full weekend as president.

“Well, this was a mission that was started before I got here,” Trump said. “This was something that was, you know, they wanted to do. They came to see me, they explained what they wanted to do — the generals, who are very respected, my generals are the most respected that we’ve had in many decades, I believe.”
...
And despite Trump’s attempt to dodge accountability, NBC reports that “[p]lans for the raid were begun during the Obama administration, but Obama officials declined to sign off on what officials described as a significant escalation in Yemen. Just five days in, Trump greenlighted the mission.”

Chaz · Post by **Chaz** » Tue Feb 28, 2017 4:36 pm

Isn't it funny how during the campaign, Trump said that the generals were terrible and crumbling, but now that he's in office, they're suddenly great? We know he didn't just replace all of them. He does realize that those generals probably still remember what he said about them before, and are comparing it to what he's saying about them now, right?

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Tue Feb 28, 2017 4:37 pm

"You know I love you, baby. I didn't mean all those things that I said. I'll be better in the future. You just make me so angry sometimes."

RunningMn9 · Post by **RunningMn9** » Tue Feb 28, 2017 4:41 pm

Trump wrote:my generals are the most respected that we’ve had in many decades, I believe.

His generals?

Defiant · Post by **Defiant** » Tue Feb 28, 2017 4:55 pm

During a meeting Tuesday with state attorneys general, President Trump apparently suggested the recent spate of anti-Semitic threats across the U.S. could have been an attempt to make other people "look bad." When asked about the fact that there have been 89 bomb threats at 72 Jewish community centers and schools in the U.S. and Canada since the start of 2017, Trump reportedly responded by saying "sometimes it's the reverse." "He just said, 'Sometimes it's the reverse, to make people — or to make others — look bad,' and he used the word 'reverse' I would say two or three times in his comments," Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro said.

link

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Tue Feb 28, 2017 4:56 pm

Truly ripian logic.

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Tue Feb 28, 2017 5:10 pm

I'm not even sure what "reverse" means in that context. Sometimes JCCs threaten callers?

Chaz · Post by **Chaz** » Tue Feb 28, 2017 5:28 pm

Maybe Jewish people are calling in bomb threats to Christian community centers or something?

Captain Caveman · Post by **Captain Caveman** » Tue Feb 28, 2017 5:30 pm

El Guapo wrote:I'm not even sure what "reverse" means in that context. Sometimes JCCs threaten callers?

He's saying it might not be anti-semites toppling Jewish graves and threatening JCCs, but someone who wants to make Trump look bad by having such terrible things happen after he became president. Or something. The dude is an Info Wars-consuming nutjob.

Also, this isn't new. He made the same "false flag" accusation at his off the rails news conference last week. I think it got lost behind all the other crazy stuff that happened during that event.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Tue Feb 28, 2017 5:32 pm

OMFG. Trump has been talking to Alex Jones again.

I wish I hadn't, but I glanced at InfoWars on this. Over there the discussion is all about how these threats are false flags, either Jews calling in the threats on themselves to make Trump's America look bad or else some kind of civil war between Orthodox and Reform Jews.

I can't believe Trump said this out loud.

Archinerd · Post by **Archinerd** » Tue Feb 28, 2017 5:37 pm

Defiant wrote:
During a meeting Tuesday with state attorneys general, President Trump apparently suggested the recent spate of anti-Semitic threats across the U.S. could have been an attempt to make other people "look bad." When asked about the fact that there have been 89 bomb threats at 72 Jewish community centers and schools in the U.S. and Canada since the start of 2017, Trump reportedly responded by saying "sometimes it's the reverse." "He just said, 'Sometimes it's the reverse, to make people — or to make others — look bad,' and he used the word 'reverse' I would say two or three times in his comments," Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro said.
link

That's the line for me. NOTHING he does from here on out will ever redeem him in my eyes. He is done, I want him out.

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Tue Feb 28, 2017 5:42 pm

My bomb threats are tremendous! They are the best bomb threats! Are you threatening me?!?! I am the great cornholio!

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Tue Feb 28, 2017 5:46 pm

What an asshole.

(Which seems to be my every-day mantra now)

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Tue Feb 28, 2017 5:52 pm

Zarathud wrote:Instead, Trump is going to shrink the labor force and discount education. We might get a one time burst of investment in worker-replacing technology paid by tax breaks.

The border tax is going to cause its own economic chaos.

An ex-Fed official called Trump's proposals "a sugar high." As noted, the economy is already functioning near capacity. Deficit-fueled labor shortages would be good for wages, but the wages of wages is inflation and higher interest rates. (I'm assuming they won't encourage immigration.)

By my calculations, this sugar high would wear off just about the time we elect a Democrat to clean up all the vomit.

El Guapo wrote:
NickAragua wrote:I don't think I need to listen to an hour of rambling bullshit. I'll just catch the summary on fake news sites tomorrow.
Yup.

As a side note, I hope that somebody's organizing Nielsen families to not watch.

I'm just now getting over my seasonal depression. I don't need the aggravation. He's aggravating enough in print media.

Defiant · Post by **Defiant** » Tue Feb 28, 2017 5:59 pm

Holman wrote:OMFG. Trump has been talking to Alex Jones again.

Or David Duke, who tweeted a week ago: "President Trump, do you think it might be the Jews themselves making these calls to get sympathy to push their ethnic agenda?"

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Tue Feb 28, 2017 6:08 pm

Incidentally, the InfoWars forums are nauseatingly anti-semitic.

I steer clear of the really angry right-wing sites and I never read comments on YouTube, so I don't often encounter pure Hitler-level bullshit hatred.

InfoWars has it in buckets. The next time someone tells you that only jihadists are truly anti-semitic, hold your nose and give that site a visit.

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Tue Feb 28, 2017 6:16 pm

Captain Caveman wrote:
El Guapo wrote:I'm not even sure what "reverse" means in that context. Sometimes JCCs threaten callers?
He's saying it might not be anti-semites toppling Jewish graves and threatening JCCs, but someone who wants to make Trump look bad by having such terrible things happen after he became president. Or something. The dude is an Info Wars-consuming nutjob.

Also, this isn't new. He made the same "false flag" accusation at his off the rails news conference last week. I think it got lost behind all the other crazy stuff that happened during that event.

That's not the reverse of anti-semites calling in bomb threats to JCCs, though. I mean, not that I expect Trump to be a master of precision, but still.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Tue Feb 28, 2017 6:22 pm

I need someone to get me press credentials so I can ask President Trump about reverse vampires.

Post by **ImLawBoy** » Tue Feb 28, 2017 6:36 pm

Smoove_B wrote:I need someone to get me press credentials so I can ask President Trump about reverse vampires.

We're through the looking glass here, people.

tgb · Post by **tgb** » Tue Feb 28, 2017 6:51 pm

He's right. If it weren't for all the damn Jews in Europe, Hitler might have gotten some really good press.