The Swamp

brian wrote: ↑Thu Jul 23, 2020 11:17 am As with all things Trump there's no logic or plan behind it. I don't doubt he would love to employ plans to screw with voting and will do what he can where he can, but the truth is that's not much. He can try to intimidate states to restrict mail-in voting or absentee ballots but the states run their own elections. He can encourage Russia to hack the voting machines, but huge swings in votes would be noticeable so it would take a close election to really work to any kind of degree (and presumes that most states haven't taken steps to try and secure the machines).

Etc, etc. I share the trepidation and concern but the integrity of the election is probably about 98 percent secure. Let's hope that's enough.

mister d wrote: ↑Thu Jul 23, 2020 11:54 am

P.D.X. wrote: ↑Thu Jul 23, 2020 11:50 am I'm fairly convinced that his campaign is mostly about one more cash grab (donations are actively being funneled to his properties) with some laissez-faire authoritarianism, bullying, racism, etc. thrown in just because that's who he is and if that gets him re-elected then that's just gravy.

I would be more convinced of this if other at-risk Republicans were turning on him to save themselves.

Steve of phpBB wrote: ↑Thu Jul 23, 2020 12:03 pmIf the Rs really could rig elections that badly, Obama wouldn’t have won twice. They’ve been insanely power-hungry for decades.

It seems as if the actual test here is whether or not a person who passes the dementia screening boasts about his performance in public as if it is proof of his genius, rather than evidence that his doctors suspected he is suffering serious cognitive impairment.

DaveInSeattle wrote: ↑Thu Jul 23, 2020 4:37 pm No GOP convention...

He has had exactly the presidency that his public life would suggest—a brazen win, followed by an inevitable decline born of laziness and pure hubristic dipshittery, and finally a catastrophic and vehemently denied collapse. This is the story of his life, and the story of his presidency.

But the pressures behind Trump’s failure did more than reiterate how manifestly incapable he is of doing the job he backed into four years ago. They brought every discordance that made this moment possible into harmony. The country has, belatedly and perhaps inevitably, come to mirror its leader. America itself was as uncanny and arbitrary and disastrously stupid as the president it elected on the day that it put Trump in office—just as angry, just as confused, just as unappeasable and deluded. It has only been in these last few bottomed-out weeks, though, that it has truly come to feel like him.

The Sybian wrote: ↑Thu Jul 23, 2020 2:03 pm Some campaign staffer is kicking himself right now for not specifying to Trump that "Suburban Housewife" is a term to stay in closed discussions.


Can we bring back Barbara Walters? If only more reporters dealt with Trump the way she did.

Nonlinear FC wrote: ↑Fri Jul 24, 2020 10:17 am

The fact that it took Chris Wallace and 3.5 years (really more like 4 or 5, depending on when he was taken seriously as a candidate) to actually have a "normal" adversarial or at least truthful conversation is an absolute failure on the part of the media.

I know this board has been all over this for many years, but it's fucking maddening.

"No they're not."

That's all you have to do. Call him on his lies, to his face. It's not that difficult

P.D.X. wrote: ↑Fri Jul 24, 2020 4:59 pm The funny thing is is that he couldn't actually remember what the test was, he was just naming things that were right in front of him for his story.

“Randy Levine is a great friend of mine from the Yankees,” Mr. Trump, referring to the president of the baseball team, told reporters on Thursday as Dr. Fauci was preparing to take the mound. “And he asked me to throw out the first pitch, and I think I’m doing that on Aug. 15 at Yankee Stadium.”

There was one problem: Mr. Trump had not actually been invited on that day by the Yankees, according to one person with knowledge of Mr. Trump’s schedule. His announcement surprised both Yankees officials and the White House staff.

But Mr. Trump had been so annoyed by Dr. Fauci’s turn in the limelight, an official familiar with his reaction said, that he had directed his aides to call Yankees officials and make good on a longtime standing offer from Mr. Levine to throw out an opening pitch. But no date was ever finalized.

Brontoburglar wrote: ↑Mon Jul 27, 2020 7:01 pm this is also real

“Randy Levine is a great friend of mine from the Yankees,” Mr. Trump, referring to the president of the baseball team, told reporters on Thursday as Dr. Fauci was preparing to take the mound. “And he asked me to throw out the first pitch, and I think I’m doing that on Aug. 15 at Yankee Stadium.”

There was one problem: Mr. Trump had not actually been invited on that day by the Yankees, according to one person with knowledge of Mr. Trump’s schedule. His announcement surprised both Yankees officials and the White House staff.

But Mr. Trump had been so annoyed by Dr. Fauci’s turn in the limelight, an official familiar with his reaction said, that he had directed his aides to call Yankees officials and make good on a longtime standing offer from Mr. Levine to throw out an opening pitch. But no date was ever finalized.

This includes shifting the F-16s from the 52nd Fighter Wing at Spangdahlem to Italy, effectively ending the U.S. mission at the German base. Additionally, the 100th Air Refueling Wing, which flies the KC-135 tanker, and 352nd Special Operations Wing will stay at Mildenhall instead of moving to Spangdahlem as planned.

Ramstein Air Base is unaffected, DOD officials said, and 24,000 personnel will remain in Germany.

In addition to moving the F-16s, EUCOM will relocate its own headquarters from Stuttgart, Germany, to Belgium. U.S. Africa Command will also move its headquarters out of Stuttgart. Its final location is yet to be determined, Wolters said.

Pruitt wrote: ↑Wed Jul 29, 2020 1:16 pm

tennbengal wrote: ↑Thu Jul 30, 2020 8:26 am