The Former Trump Presidency Thread

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Sat Sep 07, 2019 4:52 pm

FFS. It goes on.

This is such a crystaline example of projection, though, that you almost miss the full walk-back from the Sharpie extension to "I never actually said they were at risk."

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sat Sep 07, 2019 5:25 pm

That boy wasn't raised right.

And I STILL say as I always have that he is mentally sick. Probably age combined with the stupidity he was born with.

He is just SoOoOooooooo presidential.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Sat Sep 07, 2019 5:42 pm

It's a stupid story to have such long legs. Maybe it's the first time his own people can see the emperor's new clothes? He's clearly losing it, and that's just going to keep getting worse.

Stefan Stirzaker · Post by **Stefan Stirzaker** » Sat Sep 07, 2019 7:05 pm

Hey! Imagine this: obama was going to meet secretly with Taliban leaders at camp david. Trumpt would of gone wild.

Trump announces on twitter he was going to this sunday. Wheres my popcorn?

pr0ner · Post by **pr0ner** » Sat Sep 07, 2019 8:03 pm

Stefan Stirzaker wrote: ↑Sat Sep 07, 2019 7:05 pm Hey! Imagine this: obama was going to meet secretly with Taliban leaders at camp david. Trumpt would of gone wild.

Trump announces on twitter he was going to this sunday. Wheres my popcorn?

I was gonna post this. His Twitter thread starts here. What in the actual fuuuuuuuck?

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Sat Sep 07, 2019 8:17 pm

You ever get the feeling world leaders are playing Trump like a drum at a bongo festival?

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Sat Sep 07, 2019 8:58 pm

Unbeknownst to almost everyone, the major Taliban leaders and, separately, the President of Afghanistan, were going to secretly meet with me at Camp David on Sunday. They were coming to the United States tonight. Unfortunately, in order to build false leverage, they admitted to..

....an attack in Kabul that killed one of our great great soldiers, and 11 other people. I immediately cancelled the meeting and called off peace negotiations. What kind of people would kill so many in order to seemingly strengthen their bargaining position? They didn’t, they....

....only made it worse! If they cannot agree to a ceasefire during these very important peace talks, and would even kill 12 innocent people, then they probably don’t have the power to negotiate a meaningful agreement anyway. How many more decades are they willing to fight?

So Trump’s winning strategy is to maintain an inconclusive and insanely expensive foreign war until the thus-far successful local insurgents decide to... give up?

I’m pretty sure the Taliban know that "How many more decades are they willing to fight?" is *exactly* the question here.

Sounds like someone is punting to the next administration.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Sat Sep 07, 2019 9:46 pm

Inviting the Taliban to step foot on American soil just goes to show what an absolutely idiotic moron this shit heel is.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Sat Sep 07, 2019 10:23 pm

I smell another token troop surge. If Trump takes "peace" off the table, a show of force must follow as a negotiating technique and political theater. Not even Trump is dumb enough to believe this war can be won (although he might be crazy enough to try).

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sat Sep 07, 2019 11:41 pm

I dont believe anything he says. I think everything he says is a lie to get attention and make himself look better.

Getting a meeting to do something?..Lie.
China going to end something because he asked? ..Lie.
lie lie lielielieleilielie

Grifman · Post by **Grifman** » Sun Sep 08, 2019 12:14 am

Holman wrote: ↑Sat Sep 07, 2019 8:58 pm
So Trump’s winning strategy is to maintain an inconclusive and insanely expensive foreign war until the thus-far successful local insurgents decide to... give up?

I'm no fan of Trump but this is a very false statement. Trump isn't asking that they give up. But if their leaders are coming to the US to sign a peace deal, it is very bad faith on their part to launch a terrorist attack that kills a US soldier while this is happening. It calls into question their sincerity.

Grifman · Post by **Grifman** » Sun Sep 08, 2019 12:14 am

Kraken wrote: ↑Sat Sep 07, 2019 10:23 pm I smell another token troop surge. If Trump takes "peace" off the table, a show of force must follow as a negotiating technique and political theater. Not even Trump is dumb enough to believe this war can be won (although he might be crazy enough to try).

I don't think so. Trump wants out, he's never been fond of our war in Afghanistan. In fact many worry about what sort of "peace" deal he was planning to sign with the Taliban.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Sun Sep 08, 2019 1:22 am

Grifman wrote: ↑Sun Sep 08, 2019 12:14 am
Kraken wrote: ↑Sat Sep 07, 2019 10:23 pm I smell another token troop surge. If Trump takes "peace" off the table, a show of force must follow as a negotiating technique and political theater. Not even Trump is dumb enough to believe this war can be won (although he might be crazy enough to try).
I don't think so. Trump wants out, he's never been fond of our war in Afghanistan. In fact many worry about what sort of "peace" deal he was planning to sign with the Taliban.

He also has an easily bruised ego. It hinges on how personally he takes the Taliban's perceived insult. To him, adding 5,000 troops is the same thing as raising tariffs 5% -- I'll call your bet and raise it 5. He has a really weak hand and needs to draw more cards.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Sun Sep 08, 2019 7:31 am

Grifman wrote: ↑Sun Sep 08, 2019 12:14 am
Holman wrote: ↑Sat Sep 07, 2019 8:58 pm
So Trump’s winning strategy is to maintain an inconclusive and insanely expensive foreign war until the thus-far successful local insurgents decide to... give up?
I'm no fan of Trump but this is a very false statement. Trump isn't asking that they give up. But if their leaders are coming to the US to sign a peace deal, it is very bad faith on their part to launch a terrorist attack that kills a US soldier while this is happening. It calls into question their sincerity.

He’s talking as if time and war exhaustion favor our side when it is obviously the opposite. The Taliban aren’t negotiating because they’re tired of the war but because we are.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Sun Sep 08, 2019 12:19 pm

My idle speculation is he want out, as he should, (and as Obama should have later in his presidency) but if we leave they become Russia's problem again and so we stay.

Ralph-Wiggum · Post by **Ralph-Wiggum** » Sun Sep 08, 2019 1:57 pm

Do we have any confirmation from anyone else that this secret meeting was a real thing? For some weird reason, I'm not sure that I sure take this Trump guy at his word...

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Sun Sep 08, 2019 2:57 pm

Ralph-Wiggum wrote: ↑Sun Sep 08, 2019 1:57 pm Do we have any confirmation from anyone else that this secret meeting was a real thing? For some weird reason, I'm not sure that I sure take this Trump guy at his word...

That was my initial reaction, but it seems there were going to be talks.

The Taliban says Americans have the most to lose from cancelling peace negations that sought to end the 18-year war in Afghanistan.

In a statement, the group claimed all was going well until the last moment.

In the statement, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid also accused the US of lacking maturity and experience, after pulling out of talks over one incident.

He also said that the Taliban and the Afghan government had agreed to talks on 23 September. The Afghan government has not confirmed this.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Sun Sep 08, 2019 5:26 pm

Trump didn’t call it off, the Afghans did. And in typical Trump fashion, he had to make it look like he was in charge and calling all the shots.

He’s such a child.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Mon Sep 09, 2019 2:24 pm

#Windhunt

The chief scientist of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in an email that he will be investigating the agency's response to President Trump's claims that Hurricane Dorian posed a threat to Alabama. The Washington Post reported on Monday that Craig McLean, NOAA's acting chief scientist, wrote an email to colleagues that said the agency's response to Mr. Trump's claims were "political" and a "danger to public health and safety."

"I am pursuing the potential violations of our NOAA Administrative Order on Scientific Integrity," McLean wrote, according to the Washington Post.

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Mon Sep 09, 2019 3:38 pm

Isgrimnur wrote: ↑Mon Sep 09, 2019 2:24 pm #Windhunt

The chief scientist of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in an email that he will be investigating the agency's response to President Trump's claims that Hurricane Dorian posed a threat to Alabama. The Washington Post reported on Monday that Craig McLean, NOAA's acting chief scientist, wrote an email to colleagues that said the agency's response to Mr. Trump's claims were "political" and a "danger to public health and safety."

"I am pursuing the potential violations of our NOAA Administrative Order on Scientific Integrity," McLean wrote, according to the Washington Post.

That seems like a potentially significant development. One question is whether this guy gets fired.

And on a related note, the NYT is reporting that Wilbur Ross threatened to fire NOAA employees over this.

It would be hilarious if an NOAA / boasting scandal has a significant role in ultimately bringing Trump down.

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Mon Sep 09, 2019 4:02 pm

Sharpiegate!TM

Grifman · Post by **Grifman** » Mon Sep 09, 2019 5:02 pm

El Guapo wrote: ↑Mon Sep 09, 2019 3:38 pm
It would be hilarious if an NOAA / boasting scandal has a significant role in ultimately bringing Trump down.

Unlikely, I doubt that Trump ordered/asked them to do this. It was a sycophant at NOAA.

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Mon Sep 09, 2019 5:06 pm

Grifman wrote: ↑Mon Sep 09, 2019 5:02 pm
El Guapo wrote: ↑Mon Sep 09, 2019 3:38 pm
It would be hilarious if an NOAA / boasting scandal has a significant role in ultimately bringing Trump down.
Unlikely, I doubt that Trump ordered/asked them to do this. It was a sycophant at NOAA.

Hmmm, I am far less skeptical of this. I am reasonably confident that he probably did not directly order anyone at NOAA, if for no other reason than he probably doesn't know and isn't inclined to look up any people to contact at NOAA.

However, I think it's highly likely that he yelled at people in the immediate vicinity to shut the NOAA up on this.

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Mon Sep 09, 2019 5:24 pm

Bold call there, suggesting Trump knows what the NOAA is and its role in all this.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Mon Sep 09, 2019 5:28 pm

And now we know... the rest of the story.

Commerce Chief Threatened Firings at NOAA After Trump’s Dorian Tweets, Sources Say

Mr. Ross, the commerce secretary, intervened two days later, early last Friday, according to the three people familiar with his actions. Mr. Ross phoned Neil Jacobs, the acting administrator of NOAA, from Greece where the secretary was traveling for meetings and instructed Dr. Jacobs to fix the agency’s perceived contradiction of the president.

Dr. Jacobs objected to the demand and was told that the political staff at NOAA would be fired if the situation was not fixed,

Alefroth · Post by **Alefroth** » Mon Sep 09, 2019 6:19 pm

When the former Governor of the Great State of South Carolina, @MarkSanford, was reported missing, only to then say he was away hiking on the Appalachian Trail, then was found in Argentina with his Flaming Dancer friend, it sounded like his political career was over. It was,....

Did Trump just accidentally leak Pence's secret service code name?

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Mon Sep 09, 2019 6:22 pm

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Mon Sep 09, 2019 5:28 pm And now we know... the rest of the story.

Commerce Chief Threatened Firings at NOAA After Trump’s Dorian Tweets, Sources Say

Mr. Ross, the commerce secretary, intervened two days later, early last Friday, according to the three people familiar with his actions. Mr. Ross phoned Neil Jacobs, the acting administrator of NOAA, from Greece where the secretary was traveling for meetings and instructed Dr. Jacobs to fix the agency’s perceived contradiction of the president.

Dr. Jacobs objected to the demand and was told that the political staff at NOAA would be fired if the situation was not fixed,

Wilbur Ross = Montgomery Burns

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Mon Sep 09, 2019 6:41 pm

Does trump plan to tour the devastation of Dorian in Alabama?

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Mon Sep 09, 2019 7:42 pm

Alefroth wrote: ↑Mon Sep 09, 2019 6:19 pm

When the former Governor of the Great State of South Carolina, @MarkSanford, was reported missing, only to then say he was away hiking on the Appalachian Trail, then was found in Argentina with his Flaming Dancer friend, it sounded like his political career was over. It was,....
Did Trump just accidentally leak Pence's secret service code name?

Does he mean Flamenco Dancer (she was Argentinian)? Or is he just flat out throwing homophobic in the mix?

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Mon Sep 09, 2019 8:03 pm

Easy there Confefe, words are hard for this man. Ever see his word problem on Jimmy Fallon?

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Mon Sep 09, 2019 8:37 pm

LawBeefaroni wrote: ↑Mon Sep 09, 2019 7:42 pm
Alefroth wrote: ↑Mon Sep 09, 2019 6:19 pm

When the former Governor of the Great State of South Carolina, @MarkSanford, was reported missing, only to then say he was away hiking on the Appalachian Trail, then was found in Argentina with his Flaming Dancer friend, it sounded like his political career was over. It was,....
Did Trump just accidentally leak Pence's secret service code name?
Does he mean Flamenco Dancer (she was Argentinian)? Or is he just flat out throwing homophobic in the mix?

The politician's partner was an Argentinian journalist. She was never a flamenco dancer, although that's apparently what Trump meant.

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Mon Sep 09, 2019 10:32 pm

To be fair, Trump was watching The Hunger Games.

Alefroth · Post by **Alefroth** » Mon Sep 09, 2019 10:46 pm

LawBeefaroni wrote: ↑Mon Sep 09, 2019 7:42 pm
Alefroth wrote: ↑Mon Sep 09, 2019 6:19 pm

When the former Governor of the Great State of South Carolina, @MarkSanford, was reported missing, only to then say he was away hiking on the Appalachian Trail, then was found in Argentina with his Flaming Dancer friend, it sounded like his political career was over. It was,....
Did Trump just accidentally leak Pence's secret service code name?
Does he mean Flamenco Dancer (she was Argentinian)? Or is he just flat out throwing homophobic in the mix?

Pretty sure he was going for Flamingo Dancer which is what the New York City bumpkin thinks they are.

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Tue Sep 10, 2019 6:13 am

Catering to Trump's insecurities comes at a cost...

“Precious hours were wasted”: Trump’s doctored map affected hurricane forecasters

On Wednesday, when President Donald Trump was showing off a doctored hurricane forecast in the White House Oval Office, forecasters at the National Hurricane Center were mortified.

It was a critical moment for the federal tropical cyclone experts because Hurricane Dorian had begun to show signs of re-intensifying—it would later become a major hurricane again—and its track appeared increasingly likely to bring the storm's center ashore somewhere in the Carolinas. Two sources in the Miami-based hurricane center told Ars that Trump's "update" on Hurricane Dorian effectively paralyzed operations.

After Trump spoke, the forecasters' cell phones buzzed with incessant distractions. Media briefings were stopped for the afternoon. "Precious hours were wasted," one official at the center told me. "We aren’t going to put out bad forecasts, but we need to keep the eye on the ball here."

Instead of warning residents of the Southeastern United States about a re-strengthening Dorian just as it posed its greatest threat to the nation, the media subsequently pivoted to cover Trump's preposterous attempt to re-write the history of Dorian's forecast. As an American, I felt embarrassed. As a meteorologist, I was livid.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Tue Sep 10, 2019 7:07 am

Something something peanut farm something, as we now investigate why service personnel stayed at Trump "luxury" resorts on the US dime.

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Tue Sep 10, 2019 7:56 am

Paingod wrote: ↑Tue Sep 10, 2019 7:07 am Something something peanut farm something, as we now investigate why service personnel stayed at Trump "luxury" resorts on the US dime.

The NY Times has some details to help here!

NY Times wrote:The government records, released through Scottish Freedom of Information law, show that the Trump organization, starting in 2014, entered a partnership with the airport to try to increase private and commercial air traffic to the region.

As part of that arrangement, the Trump Organization worked to get Trump Turnberry added to a list of hotels that the airport would routinely send aircrews to, even though the Turnberry resort is 20 miles from the airport, farther away than many other hotels, and has higher advertised prices.

Trump Organization executives held a series of meetings with the airport officials to negotiate terms that would lead to more referrals, the documents show.

...

Both the Defense Department and executives at the airport confirmed on Monday that the airport also has a separate arrangement with the United States Air Force. Under that arrangement, the Scottish airport not only refuels American military planes but also helps arrange hotel accommodations for arriving crews, as it does for some civilian and commercial aircraft.

“We provide a full handling service for customers and routinely arrange overnight accommodation for visiting aircrew when requested,” the Prestwick airport said in a statement on Monday. “We use over a dozen local hotels, including Trump Turnberry, which accounts for a small percentage of the total hotel bookings we make.”

For once this appears to be just the circumstances of a pre-existing normal arrangement. That doesn't make this ok. The difference is that Trump didn't distance himself from his businesses and now the appearance of the conflict is the problem. The Air Force probably didn't have any visibility into this because the 'booking' function was a black box service to them. They never had to dream up contract language for instance to not book if the POTUS happened to provide a service the airport "re-sold". Probably because all Presidents in the past have gone out of their way to make that not a problem.

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Tue Sep 10, 2019 7:58 am

"Precious hours were wasted" is a perfect encapsulation of the entire Trump presidency.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Tue Sep 10, 2019 10:02 am

"Under the normal rules", or as we like to call it, "The Constitution". Once again, just imagine President Obama saying anything even close to this. Joking about it to normalize it seems to be his go-to strategy for everything, right?

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Tue Sep 10, 2019 10:33 am

He's floated it a few times and no one on his side really pushed back, so I'm sure he figures "why not give it a go?"

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Tue Sep 10, 2019 10:51 am

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Tue Sep 10, 2019 10:33 am He's floated it a few times and no one on his side really pushed back, so I'm sure he figures "why not give it a go?"

Yup - it isn't like he gives a shit about anything but himself. He is the danger that the system was supposed to protect us from and it failed.