Trump, August 2017: A great day at the White House!

h/t to aimless for the thread title

In which Trump, finally, becomes Presidential, maybe, though probably not, because he is an irredeemable piece of shit.

Let's give him a chance, huh?

How long does a chance last again?

UNtil the libtards are totally happy with him. & no returns or other getouts.
So teleologically speaking it is supposedly inevitable that at some point people will be happy with him innit?
Blinkers are wonderful things

at least four years iirc xp

psst it was clemenza who suggested the title

FUCK

sorry clemenza

Love this quote that Google has plastered under their profile of Trump:

What separates the winners from the losers is how a person reacts to each new twist of fate.

Yyyyyep.

Jobs are starting to roar

What separates the winners from the losers is how a person reacts to each new covfefe.

EXCLUSIVE: Kellyanne Conway May Be The Next Communications Director https://t.co/bHG2Qvt2mF

— Alex Pfeiffer (@PfeifferDC) July 31, 2017

"You got to be a SPIRIT, Flake!"

puff NYT review calls Flake Bulworth for taking shots at washed up Trump hangeron, a discredited felon & Alex Jones https://t.co/sGUy19SGOu pic.twitter.com/MoheH2MEef

— Adam H. Johnson (@adamjohnsonNYC) August 1, 2017

god help us when kellyanne conway seems like the safe, sensible pair of hands the white house communications office so desperately needs

this administration is a surrealist horror film. if somebody told me scarramucci was gone because he opened a door and fell into a room full of razor wire, it would make as much sense as what actually happened.

scarramucci was a human distraction-tweet

Drainin' the swamp and filling it with raw sewage.

One of the many problems with this White House (for them) is that nearly everyone does everything and yet nothing, so title conveys nothing.

Like, they might as well make Kushner communications director, for all it matters. They're all advisers to the president, anyway, and besides, he doesn't really take advice.

http://www.npr.org/2017/08/01/540783715/lawsuit-alleges-fox-news-and-trump-supporter-created-fake-news-story

Butowsky now tells NPR he was kidding about Trump's involvement.

"I was just kidding" seems to be everyone in this world's best defense.

Fox's president of news, Jay Wallace, told NPR Monday there was no "concrete evidence" that Wheeler was misquoted by the reporter, Malia Zimmerman.

'no concrete evidence' isn't what i'd call a convincing rebuttal

Should have stuck with "I was just kidding!"

Fake fake news news!

I've never seen even a fictional depiction of anyone who acted so consistently guilty as Trump does wrt the Russian allegations. And he almost certainly has no idea of how guilty his own actions have made him look, completely independent of any other evidence.

Manipulating news stories, dictating Jr.'s responses...it's just breathtaking.

Kelly will be interesting.

I'm a little worried actually, given I think the best think is for this administration to sit paralyzed in its own ineptitude.

Not necessarily saying he's suited to Washington or the job, but he's a military guy and if nothing else will demand respect and not take shit. And Trump, as much of a bully he is grew up in military schools, so he's kinda conditioned to defer to these guys.

I'm beginning to understand how Trump has gone bankrupt six times

— Jon Schwarz (@tinyrevolution) July 29, 2017

Trump can't got a day without peeing in his bathtub, Kelly will have no real impact.

"I was just kidding" seems to be everyone in this world's best defense.

Before this is over somebody's gonna shoot someone and then say "It should have been obvious that my actions were meant as satire"

xxxpost I was thinking the same thing yesterday. For all his bloviation, Trump is ultimately a sniveling coward and, like all good bullies, he only throws his weight around with those he perceives as weaker. No way will he pull the passive aggressive shit on Kelly that he has on Sessions and Priebus because he most likely senses that Kelly can kick the living shit out of him. Trump has been rankled by McMasters, for instance, but he hasn't really said anything untoward about him or treated him with overt disrespect afaict.

"Corporations have NEVER made as much money as they are making now." Thank you Stuart Varney @foxandfriends Jobs are starting to roar,watch!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 1, 2017

So proud of our friends, the corporations. Can't wait for that money to start trickling and my job to start roaring.

Only the Fake News Media and Trump enemies want me to stop using Social Media (110 million people). Only way for me to get the truth out!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 1, 2017

is he saying 110 million people want him to stop using social media cuz that number seems... low to me

xpost I'm not gonna relitigate the cognitive dissonance of conservatives again, but it really is astounding to me that anyone in a lower income bracket can look at someone who's demonstrated a lifetime of disinterest in anyone poorer than himself and who would tweet something like that and still convince themselves that he's got their back.

I think he's referring to his Twitter followers and the 109 million bots that appear to the casual eye to also be his Twitter followers.

Before this is over somebody's gonna shoot someone and then say "It should have been obvious that my actions were meant as satire"

the whole controversy is preposterous, these killings are obviously ironic

What the hell is this "problem solvers caucus" nonsense

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DGJoSPXW0AAcMd-.jpg:small

wired's deadpan game is tight

hahahahaha

xp dude anybody could kick the shit out of trump, he's a mess. kellyanne conway could suplex him. he might have a power obsession that'll make him defer to kelly but the whole "trump as alpha" thing is a figment, literally anybody could flip him.

lots of people think "alpha" means, "somebody who is somehow in charge and likes to yell a lot"

yeah, clearly he's a fat old man who can't walk a few hundred yards without having to stuff his wheezing corpus into a golf cart, but he def thinks of himself as physically powerful - look at his ridiculous handshake-pull manoeuvre

But think of all that potential energy he's stored up by being completely sedentary for so long. Dude focuses his chi just right and he could hadouken somebody through a wall.

I'm willing to bet just about anyone could give him two for flinching.

president nofap

He was probably that kid who mouthed off until someone threated to fight him, at which point he'd curl up in a ball and urinate and vomit all over himself and send the other kids reeling back in disgust.

(It's an effective technique, let me tell you.)

has anyone done any research to see how many holes of golf he actually plays? I keep thinking it can't be more than six

Iirc he usually does 18 holes in around 30 strokes, and then spends the rest of the day traversing the potomac.

He was probably that kid who mouthed off until someone threated to fight him, at which point he'd curl up in a ball and urinate and vomit all over himself and send the other kids reeling back in disgust.

― Chock Full of Love and Sexy Feeling (Old Lunch), Tuesday, August 1, 2017 10:50 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

feel like he's more Sgt Bilko, screaming "hold me back!!"

Itt bad fan fiction about a president

I think his "great day" tweet was sposed to refer to... what? He decorated some Vietnam hero yesterday who somehow consented to receiving his medal from Yam. Maybe that's all.

only pissed himself once iirc

they vanquished the angry man who was getting more television screentime than him

has anyone done any research to see how many holes of golf he actually plays? I keep thinking it can't be more than six

― mh, Tuesday, August 1, 2017 9:54 AM (sixteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

dude drives his cart over the green to avoid walking more than 5 feet at a time, so he probably can play at least 9

His "great day" tweet is probably just there to fight the general media reporting that last week was "terrible" for him and that the white house is experiencing chaos?

the whole concept of alpha humans is so laughably stupid. you have alphas among animals that travel in packs. outside of that specific system to think of an "alpha" is just to say "I have a crush on the concept of power"

dude is so clueless about "optics", it's incredible. even more incredible is that how he has reacted to Russia stuff hasn't made 100% of people go "uh ok guess there's a There there after all". Like you couldn't try to look more guilty than he has.

― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Tuesday, August 1, 2017 11:03 AM (nineteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I guess the only thing he could do at this point is look up in the air, whistle and stroll away briskly whenever someone mentions Russia near him.

damn jclc just outed himself as a beta male imo

BG: no problem, old guys blur together.

I don't know if the great-day tweet was specific to anything. I took it more in the spirit of "I love the smell of napalm in the morning." (I actually found it funny, although I'm not sure if that was Trump's intent or not.)

I think 'alpha' is a useful designation at least inasmuch as its adoption as a self-descriptor clearly signals that the adopter is a walking douchenozzle.

damn old lunch just outed himself as a beta male imo

As someone who lives in Hoboken I definitely witness lots of "alpha" posturing among the demographic of losers that have invaded the town.

damn evan just &c &c

i'm a gamma male, don't make me angry

Come at me bro I'm talking about the posers

My t is the lowest of all the t's.

the whole concept of alpha humans is so laughably stupid. you have alphas among animals that travel in packs. outside of that specific system to think of an "alpha" is just to say "I have a crush on the concept of power"

― she carries a torch. two torches, actually (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Tuesday, August 1, 2017 10:23 AM (four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah it's incredibly spurious and not even true for animals, probably one of the most toxic concepts in the world right now

http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2007250,00.html

OL otm. i think about guys who preoccupy themselves with "alpha"-ness, male masculinity, etc and they're just the most pathetic try-hards.

obv this is mostly from online personalities. i can't say i know anyone irl who's openly like this

My t is the lowest of all the t's.

&c &c on t's

i am the Omega Man

My t is the lowest of all the t's.

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTQ5Nzg2MTgwMl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNTA0NjcxMw@@._V1_UY317_CR0,0,214,317_AL_.jpg

"Hmm, I am going to have to think about whether or not that is something to brag about."

personally I try to model all my personal and business dealings on alpha, the ultimate mutant

I eat Alpha Bits for breakfast.

This WaPo story is thankfully blowing all the way up, it seems. Trump's the dude who abruptly turns the getaway car around so he can tell the police that he and his masked companions definitely had nothing to do with that bank robbery. Just a perpetual series of needless self-owns with this guy. Again, I have approximately zero understanding of how this ludicrous dope didn't wind up homeless or dead long before he bumblefucked his way into the presidency.

being born rich has some benefits iirc

FoxNews is all over it! "HEAT’S ON DEBBIE: Wasserman Schultz facing mounting pressure to testify in IT investigation" oh wai

subheader: "BIAS ALERT: Liberal news outlets work overtime to hide a huge Democratic scandal"

It takes a lot of work to not report this stuff

NICE DAY OUTSIDE: Extremely pleasant weather, picnicking a near certainty, nothing else really happening at the moment.

LA LA LA: Can't hear you, not listening.

nonsense all of you, he's a picture of health

http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/581533b1b28a644d008b5c60-480/kellyanne-conway-donald-trump.jpg

tbf most of Fox's subheaders are horrible tragedy/crime reporting - mother finds son dead in car wreck, grandma guns down intruder, paroled rapist murders dog etc

the world is a bad and scary place and we need harsh legislation to keep us afloat

also all the crime-doers are on public assistance

From reddit:

[–]Juicewag 14.1k points 21 hours ago

Mooch timeline-
1. Sells company to take WH job
2. Doesn't get job
3. Finally gets job
4. Tells the world Bannon sucks his own dick
5. Wife files for divorce
6. Misses childbirth
7. Fired

[–]WeightlessSupreme 8953 points 20 hours ago

8. Business cards arrive today

who's the next head to roll? my money's on Tillerson. I agree with the folks upthread about Trump's (VERY relative) deference to military men, and while he's antagonized the living hell out of Sessions I'm not sure he'll actually fire him because it seems like that really might piss off GOP senators enough to do something more than express "concerns." so I think that leaves Tilly with the biggest bullseye.

xpost Good thing we live in a world where folks like him render themselves unemployable and cannot possibly find a way to capitalize on their failure.

paroled rapist murders dog etc

What's great is FOX can repurpose it with any permutation of these words!

paroled murderer rapes dog

dog murders paroled rapist

etc.

real news!

I don't think Trump will fire Tillerson but he doesn't seem like a happy dude and he never wanted the job in the first place, can totally see him quitting before the year is out

at this point the line between firing and resigning is razor-thin anyway.

Wasn't one of the putative reasons Tillerson took the job to help ease Russian oil sanctions? Yeah...

c'mon that was just a conspiracy theory!

if things don't improve with kelly, tillerson will go imo. and...

Important point by @jonathanvswan - Kelly as the redline...he has all the ingredients necessary for success....https://t.co/eRSTz2EWQR pic.twitter.com/ww5IwJLnCn

— Yashar Ali (@yashar) August 1, 2017

Can't find a single person who worked on campaign or in WH who believes this chain of command following lasts long https://t.co/iTAoTSfeVk

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) August 1, 2017

"Javanka" = ew

Even in the offchance that Trump accidentally engineered a well-oiled administration, he would inevitably wreck it and insist that the oil could be even more viscous.

he would insist on using his hair oil

It's all-natural. The secret? He never washes it.

Re that Wheeler/Fox lawsuit and all

On the phone with Ed Butowsky, he tells me he suspended his own Twitter account temporarily because "people are so mean."

— Olivia Nuzzi (@Olivianuzzi) August 1, 2017

Jeff Sessions just put a military general in charge of federal prisons. pic.twitter.com/y3pBUHX7ia

— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner) August 1, 2017

seems like something he would do

Huckleberry still gravely concerned, also troubled, maybe even disappointed

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/01/trump-dictated-son-russia-meeting-response-lindsey-graham-reacts-241197?lo=ap_b1

this seth rich story seems like it's one of the most despicable things trump has done since announcing his candidacy.

that's the shit i was afraid of when he picked bannon to be chief strategist

every single day is the best day at the White House

was melania really replaced by a Melania android?

the correct term is Melandroid

There are actual several Melanias, depending on the purpose.

Like, Nanny Melania, First Lady Melania, and so on. The only real one is the sad Melania.

and you can detach the arms for different events - some of the arms don't fit well into small man hands

together they constitute a Melangia

haaaaaa

Re: that Sessions statement.

Give this administration an Inch and they will take a Milo.

the whole concept of alpha humans is so laughably stupid. you have alphas among animals that travel in packs. outside of that specific system to think of an "alpha" is just to say "I have a crush on the concept of power"

many xps, but my wife and I were just talking about this yesterday, how it's a dumb idea with literally no relation to how human beings operate. We're social animals, and we build complex systems that mostly rely on cooperation and mutual support, not on just listening to what the guy in charge says. And actual places with strongman rule are the worst-run least prosperous places on the planet. To approach the world as if everyone is either superior to you (and therefore you must defeat them) or inferior to you (and therefore you must grind them with your bootheel) is guaranteed to fail.

What you say is at odds with my narcissism, so you are wrong.

Does being fired or resigning from the current White House staff look better on a resumé?

If you're fired does it mean you have more visible ethics?
& resigning more out for yourself?

IIRC, either one is viable for use as a Fox pundit golden ticket.

This Robert Reich post is entertaining and as likely as anything else.

http://robertreich.org/post/163658444390

Powerful words from Jared Kushner. pic.twitter.com/IehdhJe7Dt

— CAFE (@cafedotcom) August 1, 2017

he is, however, against knowing stuff or learning from history, cuz that's for losers

Senator Incremental (D-NY)

Kirsten Gillibrand withdraws support for AIPAC's Israel Boycott bill: won't support it "in its current form" https://t.co/7pJlLA5flo

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) August 1, 2017

I truly believe that the future of negotiations is strategy.
I truly believe that the strategy of negotiations is the future.
I truly believe that strategy is the future of negotiations.

responding to public pressure, like an elected official is supposed to

xp

Re: that Reich post and the broadening view of Trump's instability, it's noteworthy on a completely anecdotal level that the distressingly blasé attitude in my workplace for months after the election (while I was melting down) has been shifting. Many of the people who were inclined to just shrug or disinclined to even address anything political are now all like, 'that guy is mentally ill'.

I think the GOP is starting to get pissed that Trump won't stop pushing O-care repeal

How people who have to work directly with the fucker couldn't have seen that rats had long ago chewed all the way through his wiring is beyond me, though.

Re tipsy's link, "former Republican member of Congress" who is contemptuous of DJT? Perhaps his name rhymes with Scoe Jarborough. Though I guess that is by no means the only possibility.

I think the GOP is starting to get pissed that Trump won't stop pushing O-care repeal

Senators launch bipartisan effort to shore up Obamacare

The bipartisan leadership of the Senate health committee will begin work in early September on legislation to “stabilize and strengthen the individual health insurance market” for 2018, and the committee’s influential chairman said Thursday that he has urged President Trump to continue paying subsidies to health insurance companies as work proceeds.

The announcement by the chairman, Senator Lamar Alexander, Republican of Tennessee, was the first tangible indication of cooperation between the parties since Republican efforts to scrap the Affordable Care Act collapsed in the Senate last week.

I think mental illness is as good an explanation as any for what's going on, no more, no less.

Repeal is obviously dead now, it isn't going to happen.

xp

and starting a bill in committee - ie, normal legislative process - is a tacit admission that that is the case.

looking forward to all the GOP base foaming at the mouth about whatever compromise bill gets through, cuz it *definitely* won't please Cruz, Paul, Lee et al

and that's assuming there even is some compromise bill eventually

This is kinda the moment when the parents look down at the winded post-tantrum toddler lying on the floor and say, 'you finished?'

So has recess been reestablished or is that still in doubt? Would think that you couldn't necessarily depend on McConnell not to try to come back with more if it was still in doubt.
Would love to hear taht he is finished though. Like permanently.

xpost Immediately before the toddler gets his second wind, most likely.

Would love to hear taht he is finished though. Like permanently.

Thune has publicly stated this. They are "moving on" to tax reform.

Or are the Dems trying to make sure there is technically no recess to make sure that trump don't make arecess replacement of Sessions.
& God would love to see the back of him if it weren't likely to step up the firing of Mueller.

Is there anything positive about Sessions staying on other than that?

This Robert Reich post is entertaining and as likely as anything else.

http://robertreich.org/post/163658444390

― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, August 1, 2017 8:31 PM (thirty-four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i hope trump reads this. he'll become even more paranoid.

"Until somebody shows us a way to get that elusive 50th vote, I think it's over,” said Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the third-ranking Republican. “Maybe lightning will strike and something will come together but I'm not holding my breath."

Privately, Republican aides said there is essentially no chance McConnell will take another shot at repealing Obamacare soon. On Monday, there was discussion among Senate staffers of a “hard pivot to tax reform,” one Senate aide said.

Publicly, senators were only slightly more charitable to the president’s demand that the GOP put everything on hold until it passes a health care law.

“Do I think we should stay on health care until we get it done? I think it’s time to move on to something else. Come back to health care when we've had more time to get beyond the moment we’re in and see if we can’t put some wins on the board,” said Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri, a member of GOP leadership. “Tax reform, infrastructure are the kinds of things we ought to be looking at.”

Pressed to respond to Trump’s Twitter tirade against the Senate GOP, Blunt said: “What do you want me to say about that? Obviously we didn’t give up and we didn’t quit. We can come back to this at another time and I’m sure we will.”

Were I in the position to do so, I'd constantly stand in little huddles around the WH and stage whisper 'shhh, he's coming he's coming' and immediately scramble to look very seriously at an upside-down binder as I walk away whistling.

if Trump tries to recess appoint a replacement for Sessions the Senate will go ballistic. I haven't seen any chatter about it. Schumer's p smart about this shit, he may just use procedural tricks to keep the Senate in session while everyone's on vacation if he thinks it's necessary.

xp

the Senate GOP (idk about the House, probably less so) is clearly chafing at Trump's bluster - he didn't help them get a bill passed (quite the opposite), he's belittling them in public, he doesn't show them any respect or understand how they work, he's publicly arm-twisting them to change their rules etc. I encourage his further alienation of the only body that can remove him from office.

Why would you hope he becomes more paranoid? If he isn't getting impeached or 25th'ed I'd just as soon not have him descend into terrifying mental illness.

I think Schumer actually did say that, about keeping the senate in session to prevent a recess appointment of, er, Sessions. That said, no one in DC has yet to seriously intervene to stop Trump from doing anything, so ...

firing Sessions would be hilarious tho

as I've said, I hope he does fire Sessions

total clusterfuck all around

I think he would be funny he if fired everyone.

You're fired, you're fired, you're fired, you're all fired!

I'M THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN FIX IT!

I like this plan

ahahaha! he is very funny man fiering everyone

he might hesitate a second for dramatic effect before firing Melania

"I love you, you're so beautiful, just gorgeous... but you're fired"

yes yes

more fiering

firing sessions would be just the absolute best, but i'm afraid it might get us pres Pence a lot sooner than i'd prefer

nope he's fired too!

that would be dope af but kidding aside he can't actually do that right?

(re Pence)

That would be better. Conservative > Madman who blurts out state secrets and encourages police to rough people up

Xp will

no the President cannot remove the Vice President

Conservative > Madman who blurts out state secrets and encourages police to rough people up

wait how are these different?

Reporter: President Trump, there have been reports of ...
Trump: You're fired!

White House chef: Mr. President, what would you like for dinner? We have ...
Trump: You're fired!

Ivanka: Dad, are you ... ?
Trump: You're fired! Clean out your desk! Get out of here!

(Trump looks in mirror.)
Trump: And what are you looking at, jackass?! You're fired! You're fired most of all!

A single tear streams down his cheek.

Trump: I said you're fired! Why are you still here? Why are you still here!?! Why am I still here! Where is everyone? What happened to my bed? Where is my bed!?!?

omg he fierd everyone!

lmao lj

Trump can't fire Pence, but it would be funny if he went on an extended Tweeterade trying to get Pence to become miserable and resign, a la Sessions.

Yes, please, Don, go there.

Good one.

I hate the Republican Party and what they want to do. I see that the president's buffoonery has stalled their agenda, which is good as far as it goes. But I still think there are unpredictable dangers to having this Trump guy in office.

Xp shakey.

Idk why i am talking about this though.

dangers like

(get this)

a world consumed in fier

AMIRITE

idgi is amirite welsh for something

But I still think there are unpredictable dangers to having this Trump guy in office.

― Treeship, Tuesday, August 1, 2017 4:40 PM (twenty-four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

eh -- give him a chance.

Fiering vingad syns på Haga
mellan Donalds frost och dun...

Trust me, that was hilarious

Wray confirmed 92-5 as FBI Director

don't give in to peer pressure, donnie :)

http://www.startribune.com/white-house-says-trump-has-yet-to-sign-russia-sanctions-bill/437923403/

Another amazing (as in, we're fucking doomed) interview transcript. This one was for the Wall Street Journal, but Politico got hold of it and published it.

glad to see they're already putting general chief of staff kelly in his proper place :)

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/gop-rep-ivanka-trump-doesnt-have-to-report-chief-of-staff

"to access her father" an unfortunate choice of words given his past behavior around her

I thought Wray had been outed as doing very underhand things in alliance with Chris christie involving the Bridge scandal since his initial confirmation so had assumed progress had stopped.
But thi si the Trump regime so what am i expecting some respect for ethics?

he was unanimously confirmed in committee after he explicitly said he would not pledge loyalty, stand for any obstruction etc.

Wray should tell Trump he's fired and see if he falls for it

was wray asked if he agrees with franks?

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona/2017/08/01/trent-franks-arizona-robert-mueller-resignation/104188492/

love the stretch between "they know each other" to "they're BFFs and he cannot be trusted"

Sports Illustrated runs a piece on Trump the golfer

As for his game, Trump is surprisingly limber for a portly man of 6' 2", and his good eye-hand coordination shows through in all aspects of his play, but especially in his ability to hole putts, which he does with a wristy, old-fashioned stroke that is nothing like the method preferred by the best players today. On the backswing of his full shots, he takes the club inside and, impressively, gets his left shoulder well behind the ball. He then makes a lunging, down-the-line swing with his feet dancing through the finish. It's not pretty, but it repeats and it's a swing with rhythm and power. "He's a much better golfer than you think he'd be because he hits the ball a long way," says Phil Mickelson. "He has clubhead speed, and there's no substitute for that." Trump favors the latest in TaylorMade equipment, owing to a long-standing friendship with Mark King, the company's former CEO. But when Prime Minister Abe gave Trump a gold-colored Honma Beres S-05 driver, it went straight into the bag. (Retail price of the club: $3,755. The gift was made in November, and as President-elect, Trump was permitted to accept a gift that he would not have been allowed to take after the inauguration; Presidents are forbidden from accepting a present from a foreign government with a value that exceeds $390.)

At most other golf courses in America the TV is tuned to Golf Channel, on mute, but throughout last summer and fall, the television in Trump Bedminster's shop was on Fox News, with the sound blaring. As President, Trump has already made four visits to the club. He has his own cottage adjacent to the pool; it was recently given a secure perimeter by the Secret Service, leading to the inevitable joke that it's the only wall Trump has successfully built. Chatting with some members before a recent round of golf, he explained his frequent appearances: "That White House is a real dump."

Ha, doesn't Trump claim 6'3" in an effort to beat the obesity cutoff?

And then you call places like Malaysia, Indonesia, and you say, you know, how many people do you have? And it’s pretty amazing how many people they have.

I guess you neither need nor need to know how to use Google when you're president.

It's a shame that 'That White House is a real dump' couldn't have dropped before a new thread title was chosen.

there is no way trump beats any kind of obesity cut off even at 6'3"

seriously - I'm considered "overweight" by BMI index at 6'0 and I weigh like, slightly less than 190.

he'd have to be under 240# to be overweight (not obese) at 6'3". not that it matters, but he's the one telling lies about it.

"He's a much better golfer than you think he'd be because he hits the ball a long way" sounds like Clickhole gibberish

he's a better baseball player than you think because he throws his bat at opposing players

Just wondering if Wray might be ablle to have a negative effect on the Russia investigation. I thought dodgy things about his affiliations were coming out recently.
Including him being the lawyer representing and aiding Christie through Bridgegate.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/01/us/politics/trump-affirmative-action-universities.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is preparing to redirect resources of the Justice Department’s civil rights division toward investigating and suing universities over affirmative action admissions policies deemed to discriminate against white applicants, according to a document obtained by The New York Times

Plz fire Sessions

staggering

Was going to say DJT and JBS are the absolute worst humans but I'm not even sure they qualify as human beings, tbh.

it's easy to run out of outrage these days, but that is just total WTF territory

gutting the State Department while he does that, and eliminates the environmental impact studies to get the wall built. We are not going to recover from this asshole.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/07/31/how-the-trump-administration-broke-the-state-department/

good to see kelly's impact on leaking has so far been nil btw

only kind of leaking the president likes is in his mouth, can i get a heyoo

fwiw his approval is now the lowest it's ever been on the 538 tracker

actual Trump quote

So I’ll call, like, major—major countries, and I’ll be dealing with the prime minister or the president. And I’ll say, how are you doing? Oh, don’t know, don’t know, not well, Mr. President, not well. I said, well, what’s the problem? Oh, GDP 9 percent, not well. And I’m saying to myself, here we are at like 1 percent, dying, and they’re at 9 percent and they’re unhappy. So, you know, and these are like countries, you know, fairly large, like 300 million people. You know, a lot of people say—they say, well, but the United States is large. And then you call places like Malaysia, Indonesia, and you say, you know, how many people do you have? And it’s pretty amazing how many people they have. So China’s going to be at 7 or 8 percent, and they have a billion-five, right? So we should do really well.
But in order to do that – you know, it’s tax reform, but it’s a big tax cut. But it’s simplification, it’s reform, and it’s a big tax cut, 15 –

oh dear

He's crazy

What's up with the delay in signing the Russia sanctions?

not that he's sane, but that's merely stupidity xp

I feel like there is a kind of insanity in going on like that, believing that he knows what he is talking about.

But you're right, that passage didn't involve delusions.

thinking that GDP growth and population size are correlated is pretty fucking delusional

Yeah I mean the paranoid kind.

Dumb people believe wrong things all the time because they're dumb rather than crazy.

But

I think he's crazy anyway.

What's up with the delay in signing the Russia sanctions?

The bomb in his head explodes.

rexxon isn't a fan either :(

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/tillerson-comments-new-russia-sanctions

he does know if he doesn't sign it within 10 days, it automatically becomes law, right?

unless the idiot is trying to pocket veto, which I don't think would work (Senate is still convened after all)

"the white house is a real dump" is just good golf banter imo

unless the idiot is trying to pocket veto, which I don't think would work

Dude can barely Pocket Pool, much less Pocket Veto...

was this shared? I see that a quote from the interview is already upthread
http://washingtonjournal.com/2017/08/01/transcript-trumps-latest-interview-just-leaked-truly-unhinged/

the search is on for Mr Elegant

surely there's some system to quietly make the Prez step down when he's clearly out of his mind?

like, if he was the captain of a ship or something

Maybe somebody will throw his palm tree overboard.

Good morning!

The Trump administration is directing the Justice Department to explore whether it can sue institutions of higher education over affirmative action policies that the White House deems discriminatory against white applicants, The New York Times is reporting.

The Times based its report on a document that it obtained.

The internal announcement to the Justice Department's civil rights division puts out a call for lawyers interested in working on a new project focused on "investigations and possible litigation related to intentional race-based discrimination in college and university admissions," the Times reported.

It's almost as if installing a racist in the Justice Department increases the chances of the enactment of racist policies.

Supporters and detractors of the project told the Times that the project was clearly going after programs that benefit black and Latino students and other groups

Trump is such a golf fan he doesn't know there's no such tournament as the British Open. Still, good to see him keeping on top of the issues that matter.

xp If he was playing 3D chess he could just be trying to make the head of teh DOJ exponentially more unpopular until everybody wanted him gone and he could install somebody more sympathetic to his plight.

This is the kind of evil, racist shit that's right up Sessions's alley.

Perhaps Omarosa is behind this new Trump push to woo voters of color with common-sense policies that help everyone.

And it's a breadfruit tree ffs

President Donald Trump told the Wall Street Journal that after his controversial speech at the Boy Scouts National Jamboree in West Virginia, the head of the Boy Scouts called him and told him it was "the greatest speech that was ever made to them." But the organization told TIME they are unaware of any call from national leadership placed to the White House.

Would it be fun or scary to be the guy whose job it is to call Trump and pretend to be various people full of praise?

I could see that as a real thing alongside having to insert Trump's name and praise for him into every thing that needs to be read by him. But surely nobody would be employed to stoop so low to intermittently ring him up and put on a convincing false voice to praise him. I mean surely even he would recognise the same voice ringing him all the time wouldn't he?

so reminiscent of that Twilight Zone It's A Good life.

I mean surely even he would recognise the same voice ringing him all the time wouldn't he?

honestly i don't know if he would

especially if it's saying nice soothing things to him

"Hi, it's the Pope here!"

Would it be fun or scary to be the guy whose job it is to call Trump and pretend to be various people full of praise?

― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, August 2, 2017 7:22 AM (twenty-four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I'll say scary because you wouldn't exist outside of the diseased brain of one Donald J. Trump. At least you'd have some company, existing alongside the tribe of the Many People who provide the president with the rest of his anecdotal information.

A lot of people dictated that last post to me, it's true.

i've heard that - i'm not sure where i heard it exactly but [garbled]

Has any interviewer ever asked Trump about John Barron? Because that really needs to happen. I think his reaction to questions about an alter ego he may or may not be aware of would be an important thing to get on record.

This is an entire page unto itself, apparently: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump_pseudonyms

from last year:

Donald Trump admitted to using aliases in the past during an interview on Wednesday with late-night talkshow host Jimmy Kimmel.

Less than two weeks after denying that he ever pretended to be a publicist named John Miller or John Barron in promoting his business affairs with reporters, Trump admitted on Wednesday that “over the years I have used aliases”. He added “I used the name Barron” and explained that was the inspiration for the name of his youngest son, Barron Trump.

imagine living with the knowledge that your dad picked your name because it used to be his pseudonym for when he'd call journalists with stories about his own sexual performance

And that's above and beyond the fact that your dad is Donald Trump.

speaking of making shit up . this mother fucker is wacked

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto is calling into question President Trump's most recent claims that the leader called him to praise his administration's work on the U.S.-Mexico border.

As Mr. Trump welcomed his new Chief of Staff John Kelly to the Cabinet table on Monday, Mr. Trump took time to applaud the work Kelly had done during his time leading the Department of Homeland Security.

"At Homeland, what he has done has been nothing short of miraculous," Mr. Trump said of Kelly.

He went on, saying, "As you know, the border was a tremendous problem and they're close to 80 percent stoppage. And even the president of Mexico called me -- they said their southern border, very few people are coming because they know they're not going to get through our border, which is the ultimate compliment."

But Nieto denies that ever happened.

In a statement released by the Mexican Foreign Ministry, Nieto "has not recently spoken to President Donald Trump over the telephone."

If we charitably accept the possibility that he's not completely out of his fucking mind, this could literally just be people pranking him after figuring out his cell phone number.

Is there a tally of how many times one needs to do something that might trigger the 25th amendment before it automatically triggers.
Or a certain thresh-hold of related fumbles that will add up rto it taking hold?
Can America hold its collective head up high and announce that it is proud that it has an incompetent idiot as President

Only like 26% of America.

all 99% o f republicans in office

republicans have their own collective head. it doesn't see color.

Makes sense, as white isn't technically a color.

https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?q=25th%20Amendment

Lol 😭

If we survive having an incompetent idiot as President, it will be good for our future modesty (maybe)

"Let's just do it and be legends"

https://www.vox.com/world/2017/8/1/16075198/trump-lindsey-graham-north-korea-war

I don't think this even counts as sabre rattling because I don't believe Kim Jong-un really GAF. It's such a beautiful thing that the capacity to wipe out life on earth is held by such unstable nihilists.

with such terrible hair

Not good

I know it's a cliché but can't we just get these two into a parking garage and force them to resolve this with a one-handed switchblade fight a la the 'Billie Jean' video?

that's the Beat It video! what has happened to our nation :(

Mmm, pretty sure it was 'Billie Jean'. Or possibly 'Heal the World'.

Why does Lindsey Graham like war so much?

Part of me thinks/hopes that Trump was just kind of following Graham's hints during that conversation.

i'd hope that graham was being open about it to try to discourage trump from going to war but who knows at this point tbrr

I always assume warmongers have the appetite but not the aptitude to commit to a life of serial murder so they settle for the next best thing.

No he loves this shit are you kidding

I don't think that's the case Old Lunch. I think he's just a moron who imagines he is taking "tough, principled" positions against evil.

Regardless, a war with North Korea would be a catastrophe on an unimaginable scale and it shouldn't even be seriously considered as an option, much less an "inevitability." Good God.

I think all Graham cares about is that it would be a catastrophe for someone else and not him.

Are there sweet libtears in North Korea?

He's not really motivated by blind hatred of liberals either though, at least not compared to his fellow Republican senators. He just always thinks war is the answer.

The mentality is straightforwardly 'NK and Iran will bomb America the moment they are physically capable of doing so and therefore must be completely eliminated first, irrespective of the cost to their neighbours.

He's in the pocket of the arms companies but i can't imagine even they would be particularly keen on a massive nuclear strike against NK. There wouldn't be much profit in it.

xpost Can you get more lib than Communists? Better dead than beta red!

Are there sweet libtears in North Korea?

united nations libtears inspectors haven't been allowed into north korea for a while now, only the use of military force will let find out for sure

At the end of Trump's statement criticizing the sanctions bill, he boasts about his company and chastises Congress: pic.twitter.com/mqZD5h4Wif

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) August 2, 2017

full statement clearly not written by him

Signing statement accompanying the new sanctions bill pic.twitter.com/iygyaEZYgE

— Pwn All The Things (@pwnallthethings) August 2, 2017

I dunno, the typos sort of scream out "tiny fingers!"

Ha, Rick Perry being considered for Homeland Security. You know that dude wants out of Dept of Energy.

Why does Lindsey Graham like war so much?

Because Huckleberry Butchmeup doesn't have to fight them?

even 'normal' presidents have writers u know

You know that dude wants out of Dept of Energy.

literally *everybody* in the top ranks at the DoE has a PhD, he has to be very frustrated that his smart-glasses are not working their magic

What must it be like, working under a total dummy who has no understanding of what you do. (remembers practically every job he's ever had) Oh, yeah...

I can only assume that Perry was v confused when he found out the DoE doesn't really do much with energy policy and instead spends most of it's time shuttling nuclear waste around the country

Wasn't that how it was reported? That he totally thought he'd be fighting against solar power and stuff but instead got stuck with nuclear waste management?

Re Enrique Pena Nieto: Above Josh Marshall's cute maxim, the one instance of Occam's Razor that's appropriate with Trump is: Is this a dumb power play?

I can only assume that Perry was v confused when he found out the DoE doesn't really do much with energy policy and instead spends most of it's time shuttling nuclear waste around the country

he definitely had no idea. from that vanity fair article from the other day (which was excellent btw):

In his confirmation hearings to run the department Perry confessed that when he called for its elimination he hadn’t actually known what the Department of Energy did—and he now regretted having said that it didn’t do anything worth doing.

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/07/department-of-energy-risks-michael-lewis

looooool I hadn't seen that before thx

Why do we need a department, there's energy everywhere.

Department of Labor? What, women haven't figured out how to give birth by now? Get rid of it!

I like making huge and impactful changes with the same casual, ignorant dismissiveness that I direct towards some band I won't listen to because they look stupid in their press photos.

Rasmussen has mailboxhead at -24% today

mostly notable because Strongly Disapprove is at 50%

reading that signing statement on the sanctions bill, did Trump previously issue an executive order banning apostrophes?

full statement clearly not written by him

🐦[Signing statement accompanying the new sanctions bill pic.twitter.com/iygyaEZYgE🕸
— Pwn All The Things (@pwnallthethings) August 2, 2017🕸]🐦

fuckin' apostrophes, how do they work

stay sexy russkie rexy : )

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/02/tillerson-isis-russia-propaganda-241218

USS Rexxon, I presume?

You guys could maybe just, y'know, try to look like you're not in Russia's pocket. Just engage in a little meaningless kabuki to deflect the accusations that your every action seems to confirm. Or not. Just a suggestion.

Out of interest, given that most of the recent attempts to "counter Russian propaganda", like the PropOrNot fiasco, seem to have targeted American journalists with no affiliation to Russia, and the US already spends millions on things like VoA and Radio Free Liberty, how would you like the Trump administration to be spending that cash?

i've been sort of amazed at how brazen they are with the russia stuff in the face of all the accusations. it does seem to get their base hot & bothered, but it's just so goddam weird.

xpost It's the Purloined Letter strategy: they're being so blatant and brazen that no one will believe what's going on is what it appears to be. And by "no one" I mean "most reasonable people," because these would-be bandits are idiots.

I'm not sure what the US should be doing different with Russia, re: spending or counter propaganda and whatnot, but they should most certainly not be making Russia's life easier.

BREAKING: Attorney General Jeff Sessions has announced the Department of Justice is investigating why black people can say it but white peop

— Lana Del Raytheon (@LanaDelRaytheon) August 2, 2017

Soon to be followed by an intensive study on exactly whose lives matter.

Sanctions are not making Russia's life easier. Promising that Georgia will get made a member of NATO is not making Russia's life easier. Making the Chairman of the Atlantic Council ambassador is not making Russia's life easier. All of which happened this week.

If people are arguing that the Trump administration should be using $60m to go after media narratives seen as 'pro-Russia' it makes sense to at least think through what that might look like.

Rasmussen has mailboxhead at -24% today

― Neanderthal, Wednesday, August 2, 2017 9:08 AM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Gallup's at 36/60 too

Sanctions are not making Russia's life easier. Promising that Georgia will get made a member of NATO is not making Russia's life easier. Making the Chairman of the Atlantic Council ambassador is not making Russia's life easier. All of which happened this week.

Exactly, but all of these things are happening despite Trump, not because of him.

xxpost It's more that their willingness to just leave that money on the table rather than engaging in a little anti-Russian theater and blowing it all on 70" flatscreens in every State Dept. office or whatever is one of those things that make you go 'hmmm'.

it's the RAISE Act, aka SPEAK ENGLISH

http://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/davidbadash/trump_announces_support_for_republicans_bill_limiting_immigration_to_people_who_speak_english

what about people who speak ruble?

Cool, so I guess Trump has to leave the country now?

In all seriousness, though: fuck you Trump, and may the reaper greet you ASAP.

that bill is going to die in the Senate, thankfully

what about people who speak ruble?

two-scoops is just trying to swing an understanding between uncle sam and mr. putin, that's all. no big deal. why won't stupid jealous elitist sore loser liberals just chill?

what about people who speak ruble?

"Hey, leave me out of this!"

http://uploads.neatorama.com/images/posts/287/65/65287/1379479080-0.jpg

33% approval rating on Quinnipac: https://www.realclearpolitics.com/docs/AUG_2_US_PRES+BP.pdf

starting to get tired of all the winning

*sigh*

http://www.thedailybeast.com/boy-scouts-execs-deny-calling-trump-to-praise-national-speech

White men are divided 47 – 48 percent

fucking white men

^^

As noted above, my daily supply of outrage dwindles sometimes, but that whole Boy Scouts thing is so infuriating. Make a ridiculously inappropriate speech, get chastised for it, then come back and claim the Boy Scouts called it the best speech ever. (Of course it was.) It's just so stupid, and so easily disproven, but he can't stop Trumpeting his own greatness.

nice to see it get rebuked so quickly. he rattles off quotes like this in every interview..."so and so called me to tell me how great of a job I did", when it's like...nobody who doesn't work for him ever talks about him like that in public, it's clear that these conversations are all Art of the Deal bullshit that obviously never happened, but (until now) he hasn't really gotten called out on it.

The trend in the answers to "do you think Donald Trump is intelligent" is most interesting thing in the Q poll. pic.twitter.com/8sZXvhJZnV

— Joel Wertheimer (@Wertwhile) August 2, 2017

Look at this week's "strongly approve" number https://t.co/2g9Un0bz6L pic.twitter.com/oha00tenKM

— Ariel Edwards-Levy (@aedwardslevy) August 2, 2017

xp what I'm sure many think is more interesting is that 74% of people thought he was intelligent in the first place. "YUHH FIYAD!" That's what the majority of Americans have known him for.

WTF @ he fact that the number of people saying 'yes, Donald Trump is intelligent' hasn't fallen below 50%!!!!!!!!!!!!! Fuckit, I'm gonna get in on that gas huffing thing I'd been dissuaded from trying. Ho one will know the difference, apparently.

Misspellings would suggest I have begun my huffing in earnest.

the absolute numbers there are sad, but "rich = intelligent, got elected president = intelligent" is a pretty easy mistake to make if you're not paying attention

well, being rich is merit-based (SMAHT) in many ppl's deranged minds xp

where is the "do you think voting for Trump reflects well on your intelligence" Q/A

100% yes on that one, I would imagine.

I feel like, of all the positive personal qualities in that poll, "intelligent" is the one I'd be MOST likely to ascribe to Trump. Cunning is a kind of intelligence. The ability to ad lib in front of a crowd is a kind of intelligence. Look at Huckabee's humiliatingly awful attempts to produce Trumpesque tweets and you can see that what he's doing requires a certain cognitive skill.

Trump is deeply and aggressively ignorant but I think that's different from being unintelligent. I think he just hates knowing things and hates people who know things and has kept himself ignorant on purpose.

I was all set to pooh-pooh any news about changes in Turmpian polling, because (a) most polls said he'd lose and (b) his floor has seemed pretty stable since May. Think of all that's happened, and look at the stability of this graph:

http://i.imgur.com/RScNlIi.jpg

That said, there does seem to be some change this week. So maybe it's sinking in. More dramatic in caek's post than here, because caek is posting separate tracks for strongly.

well, repeal/replace failure happened

just read that Heller's challenger next year put out a "Repeal & Replace Heller" ad lol

http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/344903-dem-ad-repeal-and-replace-dean-heller-over-healthcare-vote

I feel like, of all the positive personal qualities in that poll, "intelligent" is the one I'd be MOST likely to ascribe to Trump. Cunning is a kind of intelligence. The ability to ad lib in front of a crowd is a kind of intelligence. Look at Huckabee's humiliatingly awful attempts to produce Trumpesque tweets and you can see that what he's doing requires a certain cognitive skill.

We're talking about a country where most people's primary educations are from McDonalds ads.

The ability to ad lib in front of a crowd is a kind of intelligence.

But he can't do this at all; he simply repeats the same phrases with different subjects and direct objects over and over. I'd bet that if you did a frequency analysis of his speeches, he doesn't have a working vocabulary of more than 500-600 words.

Blasting through every single establishment safeguard to be elected president is a pretty significant achievement. He was insightful enough to match his (mostly vile) message to the concerns of the moment, so much so that he was able to win despite a series of profoundly reckless mistakes during the campaign. I'd say this means he is "smart," sure.

He's a weird guy, extremely ignorant, and at this point seemingly mentally ill in some way, but he isn't devoid of ability.

he's not intelligent

he's dumber than Dubya

I've been vacationing for a week, has this been mentioned?

https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/07/31/trump-launches-real-news-show-to-combat-fake-news-hosted-by-hi/23058709/?a_dgi=aolshare_facebook

I remember throughout the primaries remarking that Trump was one of the most effortless and gratuitous liars I'd ever seen, it was just second nature to him in a way I've never seen with anyone else. He's not without some sort of skill.

http://mkweb.bcgsc.ca/debates2016/

The Windbag Index is a compound measure that characterizes the complexity of speech. A low index is indicative of succinct speech with low degree of repetition and large number of independent concepts. A large number—ooh,look at Trump—corresponds to a stream of repeating words.

http://mkweb.bcgsc.ca/debates2016/windbag.png

He can't ad lib at all.

The Economist/YouGov graph is interesting because it shows confluence of strongly approve and approve. People aren't shifting en masse from approval to disapproval; they're shifting from strongly approve to merely approving. Because those numbers are typically combined in an overall net approval, this shift could be comparatively invisible to people just looking at aggregators.

Also vocabulary size isn't everything. His rallies showed he could read a crowd and hold their attention for hours. I definitely couldn't do that.

None of this matters though. I hate that I know so much about this person.

lol

xp

you guys are citing all these things he can do, none of which reflect intelligence.

keep it up though, he loves praise!

man xposts

maybe i'm crazy but i have absolutely no problem seeing someone from BSA organization calling Trump and telling he did a "fantastic job", whether they want to admit it, or if everyone in the leadership was aware of it or not.

I can show you a fuckton of people who can hold a crowd's attention for hours that are certifiable morons

xxp I too can hold the attention of angry, hungry raccoons by throwing garbage at them for a sustained period. That doesn't make me smart.

stop equating wealth/success with intelligence

I was looking at that chart going "... Kanye?" before I realized what had happened

Guys, seriously, let's not get ahead of ourselves on praising the Don's smarts. If he hadn't had any number of people leading him by the hand through the minefields of his own making, dude would be living in Grey Gardens right now wrapped in a shit-stained towel.

If we spent hours going through each quality a person could have, we'd probably find Trump doesn't have a single redeeming quality at all. Which I know isn't common, but that's the guy who's president now.

His rallies showed he could read a crowd and hold their attention for hours. I definitely couldn't do that.

I can confirm from observation over the weekend that a dachshund puppy also possesses this ability.

I'm just really curious what skill people think it takes to get a crowd of angry, racist white people to listen to someone castigate minorities and chant "U-S-A! U-S-A!" It's trivially easy. Try it at your next sporting event.

He fulfills an important role of celebs: giving millions of people the chance to feel superior to him. The gloomy face and the antique adolescent hair, the mannequin wife and the clueless children of privilege, the sheer pointlessness of flying around in a 747 to say inane things to crowds of people — it’s cheap entertainment for us, and in the end it simply doesn’t matter.

We Will Survive This, Garrison Keillor

I'm just really curious what skill people think it takes to get a crowd of angry, racist white people to listen to someone castigate minorities and chant "U-S-A! U-S-A!" It's trivially easy. Try it at your next sporting event.

step 1: be white
step 1a: if you aren't white, make sure you let the white crowd know how much better than you they are
step 2: flatter the shit out of the crowd
step 3: pick a marginalized group and scapegoat the shit out of them
step 4: more flattery
step 5: more scapegoating
step 6: encourage violence
step 7: promise that you can singlehandedly remake the world in your own image
step 8: more scapegoating
step 9: more flattery
step 10: say something super racist/sexist but in vaguely coded language so the audience can feel smart for "deciphering" it (this is a specific form of flattery)
step 11: monetize the shit out of these morons

This seems like a useful resource for those of us in liberal mass media bubbles:

Hamilton 68: A dashboard tracking Russian propaganda on twitter

President Donald Trump may tap U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry to replace former Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, who took over as White House chief of staff this week, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday. Bloomberg, citing three people familiar with deliberations, said others were also being considered for the post.

White House officials had no immediate comment. Asked about the Bloomberg report, an Energy Department spokeswoman said Perry was content in his current job. “While Secretary Perry is honored to be mentioned, he is happy where he is and very focused on carrying out the mission the President gave him when he was chosen to lead the Department of Energy,” Shaylyn Hynes said in an email.

Rick Perry did an absolutely horrible job of securing the border. He should be ashamed of himself. Gov. Abbott has since been terrific.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 21, 2015

dunno which is more terrifying, Perry being in charge of nuclear stockpile or being in charge of national security

what's the difference

well they do overlap

one has the authority to imprison/kill people tho

i know it's lookist af but without knowing another thing about him i would not feel comfortable leaving children alone with Stephen Miller

Others reportedly being considered for DHS include Rudy Giuliani, Kris Kobach, and Tom Cotton.

The Stephen Miller press conference is a dumpster fire. He and Jim Acosta are insulting each other.

^^I just decided I'd heard enough, turned it off

why would stephen miller hold a press conf

Others reportedly being considered for DHS include Rudy Giuliani, Kris Kobach, and Tom Cotton

Giuliani will never make it through the Senate. Cotton would though

That confrontation between Miller and Jim Acosta will be all over the place for the next few hours. I imagine Acosta would like to rephrase his Great Britain-Australia statement,

plus isn't Kobach busy hunting down those pesky fake votes

Heh, just turned on the press briefing and Sanders is reading another fucking fan letter.

OMG, who decided to put Miller on camera?! I'm going to have to seek out this nightmare after work.

was it like when they let toby do briefings in the west wing!!!!!!

I find it kind of, well, sad that Sanders has these pre-written statements ready to go for the tough questions. Why even stand there?

why even have these briefings at all, is the real question

I promote this turn of events, tbh. The administration is sure to start hemorrhaging support if cave-dwelling slime trolls like Miller and Bannon start creeping out of the shadows and presenting themselves in all their glory the American public.

at least when the movie about the tumultuous Trump administration comes out, Stephen Miller knows he will be played by James Woods

Impressive range from Jonathan Banks. From Stephen Miller in the 80s to James Clapper or aging Rick Wilson today. pic.twitter.com/w4RGIMUYun

— Liam Donovan (@LPDonovan) August 2, 2017

ed butowski 'joking' over text about seth rich's murder for president trump is a new highpoint in "american" "conservative" history :)

It was just a goof.

We're talking about a country where most people's primary educations are from McDonalds ads.

― carpet_kaiser, Wednesday, 2 August 2017 18:31 (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Holy shit is this true

ACLU on top of things: http://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2017/08/02/kris-kobach-trump-voter-registration-deposition-241257

many xposts

don't throw stones in glass houses, i know, but i have trouble trusting that Windbag Index above because they misspelled Kaine's name in a way that clearly wasn't the result of a mere typo

stephen miller on jim acosta's "cosmopolitan bias" = duke sucks

this immigration thing has a 0% chance of passing, right?

this has a good rat-a-tat-tat to it https://poll.qu.edu/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=2476

"It's hard to pick what is the most alarming number in the troubling trail of new lows for President Donald Trump," said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.

"Profound embarrassment over his performance in office and deepening concern over his level-headedness have to raise the biggest red flags.

We're talking about a country where most people's primary educations are from McDonalds ads.

― carpet_kaiser, Wednesday, 2 August 2017 18:31 (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I thought the fear at least used to be that McDonalds and other similar firms were distorting education by almost direct advertising being placed in in terms of sponsorship etc. Logos on every possible item and information propmoted in line with corporate wishes.

Hopefully that's long gone. But I could see it returning under current leadership.

Why are all systems of power huge disasters? One key part is probably that power literally changes people's brains https://t.co/6uMBmR61yU pic.twitter.com/GSeiPEmUbe

— Jon Schwarz (@tinyrevolution) August 2, 2017

this immigration thing has a 0% chance of passing, right?

it's not zero but a) it has to get through committee first, b) it has to be brought to the floor for a vote and c) it will need 60 votes (ie, entire GOP + some Dems). Given that this was announced in coordination with Trump (and not McConnell), would seem to indicate it's a steep climb. Have to think there would be some corporate pushback against this (both from tech firms and others) as well as resistance from various states with big latino populations (lookin at u, Heller) plus a fairly unified Dem opposition (I suppose they might peel off Heitkamp and Munchin).

Stephen Miller's parents:
http://www.ymcllc.com/management-team/

Stephen miller band

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/Steve_Miller_Band_Ravinia.jpg

er Manchin

xxp

It's legitimately great that language requirements, which are baked in to the immigration systems of Australia, Canada, the UK and New Zealand, are so toxic in the US.

I had no idea that was the case, that's insane

what's the historical/political rationale behind that, I assume it's some colonial holdover

well there goes that puppet stuff... Medvedev is on FB?

Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian prime minister, said the new sanctions were tantamount to a "full-scale trade war".

He said that the move showed the Trump administration was utterly powerless. "The hope that our relations with the new American administration would improve is finished," he wrote on Facebook.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/08/02/donald-trump-signs-russia-sanctions-bill-calls-significantly/

no rational person thinks Trump is Putin's "puppet"

well, youre setting a high bar for Keith Olbermann

what's the historical/political rationale behind that, I assume it's some colonial holdover

― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 2 August 2017 22:37 (forty-six seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Only in as much as everything in the UK is a colonial hangover. Language requirements were first introduced around 2009.

The focus in all four is on skilled migration and the perception is that you can't work effectively if you can't speak English (or French in Quebec). Beyond that, it's absolutely about the politics of integration.

trump won't see it on facebook, but he also tweeted it

The Trump administration has shown its total weakness by handing over executive power to Congress in the most humiliating way

— Dmitry Medvedev (@MedvedevRussiaE) August 2, 2017

I know he's Russian, but I can't read that as anything other than Hans and/or Franz.

Re the Medvedev tweet:

We Are Now in Cold War 2.0

Only six months into his presidency, Moscow has assessed that Trump is a naif, an incompetent weakling who cannot deliver what Russia needs. He is therefore expendable. As stereotypical Chekists, Putin and his retinue wanted chaos in America in 2016 and that surely Trump has delivered, with myriad assistance from Russia’s intelligence agencies...

Now that Trump is expendable to Moscow, he ought to worry that leaks unflattering to him and his entourage may go public. We know that Russian hackers pillaged Republicans as well as Democrats in 2016, while only the latter have been disseminated by Kremlin fronts. Not to mention Trump’s decades of shadowy financial dealings with Russian oligarchs, which the Kremlin surely knows all about. Putin is biding his time and, right now, he’s holding most of the important cards. He may ultimately decide Trump’s political fate, which now resides in Moscow’s hands.

Verrrry interesting. (Yes, lame source, but they appear to have the scoop.)

https://www.conservativereview.com/articles/trump-loyalist-ezra-cohen-watnick-fired-from-nsc-sources-say#sthash.boutfp3c.uxfs

Saw a Tweet the other day that Kelly coming in would mean little so long as Cohen-Watnick, Gorka and Bannon were still around. And now, one's gone.

Who wrote that the villain from cats and dogs xp

John R. Schindler is a never-Trump conservative who served a decade+ as a naval officer in the NSA, but got booted for texting a dick pic. He's no angel, but does seem to have contacts within the IC, and on Twitter is in a moderate camp between the loonies (Mench et al) and the rather late to the game major media.

Schindler may or may not still have contacts, but any of us monkeys could have written that essay.

Also interesting re NSC removals.

https://www.theatlantic.com/amp/article/535725/

I should add it's hilarious Michael Anton is the one reduced to no-comment stuff about the type of thing he loves getting trashed.

A preview of my upcoming Observer bombshell:

"This was not the way it was supposed to turn out. Six months after a contentious election in which Trump's best defense against accusations of being a Russian puppet was 'no, you are,' with evidence of collision or worse piling up at a seemingly unsustainable pace, it's Putin, and not the American public, that has pulled the plug, dismissing the would-be enabler as an incompetent dud, and betting on a more contentious and traditional adversarial stance rather than continue hoping Trump could come through on years of winks, hints, and barely veiled messages that he would be a willing and able assistant to Putin's dreams of renewed global dominance.

And yet, it's Trump that should be most concerned. With Putin moving on, that leaves Trump behind. And what a behind he has! Ample, supple, like an enormous fruit loose in the giant khaki back-sack of his pants. Wobbling to and fro with every pendulum swing of the golf club, inspiring awes from those fortunate enough to be stationed behind his tee, the hypnotic slap of his butt-flesh against itself echoing like a human executive desk toy, the constant applause of two cheeks for the man setting them in motion ..."

so, do we get pee tape now

Ample, supple, like an enormous fruit loose in the giant khaki back-sack of his pants.

well there's next month's thread title

Are they blackmailing him or not?

no

Whew, good news:

Senate GOP leaders have openly flouted Trump’s attempts to steer them back to repealing and replacing the ACA, an endeavor that collapsed in failure last week. On Tuesday, McConnell laid out the rest of the Senate’s plans before adjourning for the summer recess. Health care was not among them.

Instead, Alexander signaled he would go around the president. He and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) announced they would hold fall hearings to shore up the individual health insurance markets. It was the most concrete sign yet of bipartisan work in the Senate on strengthening the existing health-care law, and it followed a proposal offered Monday by a bipartisan group of 43 House members.

whatever the Senate comes up with will die in the House, I expect, because Ryan won't bring up anything he needs Democratic votes to pass. Can't piss off the Freedom Caucus.

Quite remarkable that Congress not only pressured him to sign the sanctions under duress, but that he needs their explicit permission to change them. Like a child.

feel like we're close to Trump having this moment w/ a reporter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwU6ZcadU44

Let the fun begin

New: Congressional investigators set their sights on Donald Trump Jr.'s phone records https://t.co/aQv6BImL2U

— Yashar Ali (@yashar) August 2, 2017

Schindler is less of a loon than Mensch but he's spent months spouting the same bullshit about how Trump is invoking the WRATH OF THE DEEP STATE and ANY DAY NOW HE'S GOING DOWN, rinse and repeat.

Twitter grifters gonna Twitter grift.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/president_trump_job_approval-6179.html

such beautiful numbers

What am I reading

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/amp/trump-says-u-s-losing-afghan-war-tense-meeting-generals-n789006

To underscore his view that the veterans who fought in the war may be better positioned to advise him on an Afghanistan strategy, Trump compared the policy review process to the renovation of a famed New York restaurant in the 1980s, officials said.

Trump told his advisers that the restaurant, Manhattan's elite '21' Club, had shut its doors for a year and hired an expensive consultant to craft a plan for a renovation. After a year, Trump said, the consultant's only suggestion was that the restaurant needed a bigger kitchen.

Officials said Trump kept stressing the idea that lousy advice cost the owner a year of lost business and that talking to the restaurant's waiters instead might have yielded a better result. He also said the tendency is to assume if someone isn't a three-star general he doesn't know what he's talking about, and that in his own experience in business talking to low-ranking workers has gotten him better outcomes.

dear Hades

Separately: the fun bit? He says he's doing it because being pro-Trump was 'bad for business.'

Right-wing troll Mike Cernovich says he's doing a “big pivot” away from Trump: https://t.co/O2gTiCVBs4 pic.twitter.com/VKtCkgpfhA

— Media Matters (@mmfa) August 2, 2017

What if being president was as easy as being a drunk duffer at a high-class bar at 3 am when the owner wants to close and go home

Hannity always delivers the laughs, although I do wince every time when I get out of the car and think about how I could have instead devoted x number of minutes catching up on the dozens and dozens of CDs I have backlogged.

He was conspiratorially assuring his audience tonight that a) he can't say he everything he knows, but b) he does know people, and he does know things.

Those who need not worry: 1) Trump, 2) his administration.
Those who should be very worried: 1) Hillary Clinton, 2) DNC operatives who met with Ukrainians, 3) Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, 4) James Comey.

He did spare Barack Obama, Samantha Power, Zoë Baird, and Cristophe.

why

Had to cut to a commercial for one of the seven thousand suspect products he vouches for--Protect Your Parakeet from Identity Theft or some such.

it's really disturbing to me, how you view this situation as a spectator sport

?

he treats it like a particularly exciting baseball game

I'm not really sure what that means, or how I'm any different from most people who comment in this thread. Being from Canada, I'd a spectator, to a large extent, by default. I don't know how my average post differs from the average American post here. (I will review your own posts and try to decipher the subtleties of tone I'm missing.)

tbh I wish we could ban all non-US posters itt except for maybe darragh and LBI, so grain of salt etc.

/wishlist

i'm way fucking american and there are no exciting baseball games. that is all.

Trump threads get 3,000 posts per month. Guessing at least half of them are jokes, no?

someone tell John Oliver

xp half of them are shitty posts by Old Lunch

I'll stop now

ah good this is just what the thread needed

Guys guys, divided we stand.

after 17 years of ilx politics threads, the subjects finally begin to realize that they consist mainly of poor jokes and commentary and have a negligible effect on policy

tbh I wish we could ban all non-US posters itt

spoken like a true Trump

There needs to be a separate US politics board.

build the wall

Thanking u for the series of quality posts there, sleeve.

Be forewarned, everyone: I'm going to be carefully policing the Gino Vanelli thread over on ILM from this day forward.

I can't come up with a single joke about how we shouldn't be making jokes

I thought sleeve was british, fwiw.

In fairness...even though I shouldn't be...I do understand that it's easier for me to make jokes about Trump from another country. And I do understand the actual destruction his presidency involves (which can only get worse).

But I can't not be Canadian, can't not take an interest in American politics, and can't not make jokes. I'm 55, and won't be changing soon.

I have zero issues with people outside of the US weighing in on Trump. This nightmare affects all of us.

We wish it didnt, frankly.

I'm very serious about the separate politics board. I know I mostly post about politics now -- it's impossible to look away from what's happening -- but I still feel like vomiting whenever I read the word "Trump" and hate that he is the single most discussed individual on this messageboard I love, a place that turned me on to a ton of interesting music and ideas long before I even started posting.

give us your tired, your poor, your sucker US posters, waiting for prosperity to trickle down

Treeship: just dont read the politics threads then? Aside from this one, I dont. I hear theyre mostly full of you lot screeching past each other anyway.

If it was all on a separate board people could have the option to uncheck it on their SNA

I notice sleeve posted a few times in the Rob Ford crackstarter thread--even made a joke or two. Is it just a difference of scale between posting there as opposed to here, or is there something deeper I'm missing?

Could we also have a weather board? I need my tornado action fix.

some people get high every day

Weather, drugs, and all other miscellany is what ILE is for.

Trumpinalia is the cholera of conversation topics.

as is class privilege. why are people grudgeful here?

They take from the medium poor
To give to the needy poor
Via the government poor
Give it to the poor poor
They're knocking on my door

entrance!

Treeship: there was always a general politics thread where I think the idea was to post about things not directly related to whoever's president.

American Politics 2017: This Swamp Isn't Going To Drain Itself...

No one's posted on this year's version since January 7.

So Much For The Tolerant Left

The most obv way to avoid stress is...don't post if you don't feel like it. I read this thread about a dozen times a day and only comment three or four times at mot.

i read this thread a half dozen times a day and never post

But tres bon mot.

So now Trump is attacking Golf and SI for the 'dump' comment. Speaking of:

When Hope Hicks confronted @golf_com's @AlanShipnuck about the "White House is a dump" line in his profile, this is what he said in reply: pic.twitter.com/9jfmCWQwtC

— David Gura (@davidgura) August 3, 2017

you think our country's so innocent?

Meant to mention that they were arguing about Trump suing the USGA on a local sports call-in show earlier today--specifically, what the one woman panelist thought was a tepid reaction from LPGA players.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/golf/lpga/2017/07/10/donald-trump-said-have-threatened-usga-lawsuit/465590001/

Hope someone somewhere has posted a photo of Bette Davis and/or Elizabeth Taylor next to Trump's dump line.

maybe he can bankrupt the PGA like he did the USFL?

"Grab 'em by the putter!"

compulsively following this thread, twitter, whatever, is just as much a pavlovian sickness as whatever it is that drives the american president to say profoundly stupid shit on the internet several times a day. yes, the america we've all known for all our lives is being consumed from the inside by people who support the president the way they support their favorite sports team. yes, this is a constant source of stress and fear to most of us. i'm not ignoring it, i just am actively resisting the compulsion to watch it happen in real time. this is made easier by the fact that i can't make a goddamn bit of sense out of any of whatever is supposedly happening anymore.

compulsively following this thread, twitter, whatever, is just as much a pavlovian sickness as whatever it is that drives the american president to say profoundly stupid shit on the internet several times a day.

in fact, compulsively following american political news & gossip is exactly what drives the american president to say profoundly stupid shit on the internet several times a day

Rush, sure that fine line between engagement, ignoring and not making sense isn't myopic?

This whole discussion about who deals best with the lard-ass life-threatening sloganeering, short-con of the Trump presidency is dumb.

I love reading about it here: the Greek's certainty, the moldy sandwiches endless metaphors, the pain + pain and the moralists demanding that it's not a fucking joke.

It's not, but color me red, white and blue: at least this isn't bodybuilding.cxm

Re: Trump ad-libbing, he's doing the same thing that psychics do when throwing out a bunch of words and seeing which ones stick - without the need for close-reading of people. Like psychics, he only gets away with it because he's talking to people who want to believe for one reason or another - return of coal jobs, or daddy's back, or whatever.

I don't know.

His speech and thought are disorganized, but during the campaign there were two main themes that resonated. One was "we are being duped and humiliated by other countries, and the (implicitly white, male) working class are the ones suffering" and the other was "the elites like it this way and they're tricking you." He was pointing the finger at big shots and smooth talking political types as much as he was minorities. In fact, the main talking point was that our leadership had *let* our country be overrun with terrorists, drug dealers whatever. (On Obama after the Pulse shooting: "He either doesn't get it or he gets it far better than we'll ever know.")

This was a coordinated message of white populism, it wasn't just some random nonsense. It was also different than the usual Republican message although certain features, like racial scapegoating, were similar. He seems to have lost his bearing in recent months and is just bragging or settling personal scores most of the time but he didn't start out that way, which is why I am resistant to saying he is "dumb" and became president because Americans are also "dumb."

Hateful, crude, incurious -- yes. This describes him and his voters. But he has, or had, a kind of ideology and it's worth trying to understand why it had such an impact despite the ridiculous way he ran his campaign.

I thought sleeve was british, fwiw.

So did I. Obviously confusing them with a stevie(?) or stevolende.

Why T. had an impact is not very mysterious - there's been a lot of talking and writing about this. The racism, the xenophobia, the attractiveness of simple solutions, and of course BECAUSE FUCK YOU, LIBS. Personally I've read enough "Conservatives in the Mist" thinkpieces, thanks.

Anyway as to the meta-discussion, I will continue to contend that it's possible to walk and chew gum. One can oppose injustice, strive to help the downtrodden, AND toss out goofy snarkticles about Spicer in a Bunny Suit or whatevfefe.

Indeed, for some of us, the goofy bits are a helpful (even necessary) release valve for the anxiety and terror about the very real consequences.

I'm not saying we need more analysis but the simplistic attitude toward why we are where we are is of a piece with the dumb meme-ification of political discourse where we all spend our lives congratulating ourselves for not being conservatives.

When the explanations are, in fact, fucking simple, calling a clear-eyed recognition of that fact "simplistic" feels off. People are herd animals, and it's not hard to spook the herd.

Pack animals. But yes.

Treesh, I hear you on "simplistic," I guess, but most of us have gone down the complicated road plenty. And frankly, the complicated version comes out to the same conclusions.

People can come to Trumpdom via simple gonadal rush, or via a very tortuous, nuanced series of rhetorical moves. Small betrayals, imperceptible slights, eroding social structures, larger economic tides. You're still supporting a fucking infantile narcissist who's surfing waves of white male resentment to ridiculous levels of destructive power.

Whichever way you decided to pick up a sledgehammer made of rancid fat, the sledgehammer is still the same sledgehammer of rancid fat.

Put another way, being an actual racist asshole and pretending to be a racist asshole for lolz? Those are functionally equivalent for those on the receiving end.

But conservative leaders adore him!.

Mr. Trump and members of his administration have spent their first six months in office cultivating and strengthening ties to the movement’s key groups and players with a level of attention and care that stands out for a White House that often struggles with the most elementary tasks of politics and governing.
Continue reading the main story
Related Coverage

Health Care Has G.O.P. Down. Tax Cuts May Be the Cure. JULY 19, 2017
Reverence for Putin on the Right Buys Trump Cover JULY 14, 2017

ADVERTISEMENT
Continue reading the main story

Their outreach extends to groups across the ideological spectrum — small government, tax-averse Tea Party followers; gun owners; abortion opponents; evangelical Christians and other culturally traditional voters. And it reflects the importance that Mr. Trump and his aides have placed on the movement politics of the right, which they recognize as the one base of support they cannot afford to alienate since conservatives, according to Gallup, are 36 percent of the electorate.

“You want the structures that deliver people, votes and enthusiasm — and he understands that,” said Grover Norquist, the veteran anti-tax activist who has been working with White House officials as they develop a tax legislation package.

“Where’s Trump been the most solid?” Mr. Norquist asked, listing the range of conservative constituencies the president has prioritized. “Taxes. He’s never going to raise taxes. Pro-life, he gets that. Home schoolers, he listens to them. And guns. He’s good on guns.”

I don't know what Treeship is talking about but I don't think YMP is the one to stop this latest bout of uncomprehending insecurity. Over to you, unperson.

grover norquist should be in jail

will they let him vape in jail

Truly, he is some conservative-whispering phenomenon, to glean that Taxes, Abortion, Homeschooling and Guns are the keys to this elusive constituency.

So did I. Obviously confusing them with a stevie(?) or stevolende.

I am a britishes, it is true. SAD, but true. i read this thread, it's p much the only ilx thread i follow now, but i rarely post, except to express exasperation and rage. i delete more drafts than i post, many more.

i would just to like to add that i am otm about grover norquist needing to be jailed

Treeship, Trump's moves are slight variations on the same demagogic scapegoatery that has been employed throughout recorded human history. His ideas are not his own. He regurgitates Fox News talking points and he gets a biscuit which encourages him to regurgitate more Fox News talking points in a louder voice in the hope of more biscuits.