Trump Administration Meltdown Thread...

Steve of phpBB · Post by **Steve of phpBB** » Fri Mar 17, 2017 1:06 pm

Joe K wrote:I'm talking as a general matter, not specific to the Trump budget. What was one of Bill Clinton's signature policy "accomplishments"? Welfare reform, which involved significant cuts to social services in the name of austerity. Similarly, Obama tried to work towards a "Grand Bargain," with the GOP, which would've involved substantial cuts to Social Security and/or Medicare. Fortunately the Congressional GOP was too dumb to take him up on that offer. I'm sure I could find similar examples from HRC and many other prominent Dems.

That welfare "reform" was twenty years ago. And it wasn't simply about austerity, but also about the widely accepted notion - even among the Black community - that the then-current welfare system was not helping much because it was not helping people escape welfare. Plus, if you remember that time, you remember that the GOP had just taken over Congress, and Clinton had to scramble to stem the tide.

Obama's stupid grand bargain was also something like five or six years ago - at another time when the GOP had serious momentum and in fact was threatening to put the US into default by failing to raise the debt ceiling.

Hillary campaigned on increasing spending on social services.

Joe K · Post by **Joe K** » Fri Mar 17, 2017 1:16 pm

Hillary also campaigned on not adding "a penny to the national debt," a counterproductive promise that hamstrings the ability to actually provide for improved social services.

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/10/31/o ... fatal.html

And in her closed door speeches to investment banks, she went further and praised the Bowles-Simpson austerity program.

And why should we give a pass to Clinton and Obama for embracing conservative proposals when Republicans are ascendant when the GOP never does the same when Democrats have good election results? Isn't that assymetry part of why the economic policies of this country have been steadily moving right for the last 40 years?

P.D.X. · Post by **P.D.X.** » Fri Mar 17, 2017 1:27 pm

He just called us a "very powerful company" in his joint presser.

rass · Post by **rass** » Fri Mar 17, 2017 2:25 pm

lol?

Johnnie · Post by **Johnnie** » Fri Mar 17, 2017 2:27 pm

Brontoburglar · Post by **Brontoburglar** » Fri Mar 17, 2017 3:51 pm

rass wrote:Jeff needs to lay off the #'s.

the media person's need to hashtag 15 things in a tweet is infuriating

Johnnie · Post by **Johnnie** » Fri Mar 17, 2017 8:31 pm

Brontoburglar wrote:
rass wrote:Jeff needs to lay off the #'s.
the media person's need to hashtag 15 things in a tweet is infuriating

That, and he did it completely wrong. You hashtag for a topic, but he's just doing it for words.

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Sat Mar 18, 2017 9:35 am

Because clearly the opinion of Joe the Plumber is more important than the country's relationship with Germany.

Johnnie · Post by **Johnnie** » Sat Mar 18, 2017 9:47 am

The reality is Germany is a strategic location for reachback via our logistics chain. It's centrally located in Europe. It has the biggest military bases. But it's also consolidating the smaller ones. And they don't need our money or defense. But the symbiotic relationship we have, plus our endowed "police of the world" moniker, means we have to have strategic alliances everywhere.

But yea. This mother fucker. Twitter is diversion.

Johnnie · Post by **Johnnie** » Sat Mar 18, 2017 10:14 am

This face is everyone's face:

P.D.X. · Post by **P.D.X.** » Sat Mar 18, 2017 1:09 pm

The thing that kills me is that there is literally like a million people who could stand there and be more competent than him.

P.D.X. · Post by **P.D.X.** » Sat Mar 18, 2017 1:13 pm

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Sat Mar 18, 2017 9:19 pm

P.D.X. wrote:The thing that kills me is that there is literally like a million people who could stand there and be more competent than him.

All it would take to be more competent is to stand there and not say a word, and not pick your nose. That's it. His joke that they both had their phones tapped by Obama is embarrassing on so many levels. I'm sure that is an extremely sore spot for Merkel, it's an embarrassment for the CIA or whatever agency, and FFS, the press just reported that Congress and the DOJ confirmed Trump either lied or is too fucking stupid to comprehend newspaper articles and falls for insane conspiracy theories. He truly isn't capable of feeling shame. Then refusing to shake Merkel's hand? What the fuck was that? He refuses to touch any woman who isn't a 5 or better? Yet, his people still gloat that we finally have a President the rest of the world respects.

It's amazing how far the bar dropped for Trump. We all winced and laughed at W's awkward attempt shoulder massage Merkel. A couple days ago I was thinking about the Dan Quayle "potatoes" scandal. Fuck, the guy misspelled a word and it destroyed his reputation. Trump can't go a day without doing, saying or Tweeting 10 things more embarrassing or unpresidential, and it just doesn't fucking matter.

Joe K · Post by **Joe K** » Sat Mar 18, 2017 10:32 pm

The Sybian wrote:Yet, his people still gloat that we finally have a President the rest of the world respects.

When the idea of respecting black people or a man with a Muslim sounding name is completely unthinkable to you, it's probably easy to assume that the rest of the world feels the same way.

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Sat Mar 18, 2017 11:53 pm

Joe K wrote:
The Sybian wrote:Yet, his people still gloat that we finally have a President the rest of the world respects.
When the idea of respecting black people or a man with a Muslim sounding name is completely unthinkable to you, it's probably easy to assume that the rest of the world feels the same way.

They too are either too stupid to comprehend foreign newspaper articles, or are only visiting breitbart.de or whatever the equivalent would be.

Tom 1860 · Post by **Tom 1860** » Sun Mar 19, 2017 5:35 am

I suppose at this point (a few months in), people will start getting so used to hearing/reading his shit every day, that they will become numb to it all.

It is human nature to ignore the repetitive shit that does not directly impact you on a daily basis. I am already switching channels, moving the page on my ipad, clicking elsewhere on my computer and just shaking my head. Every so often, I will catch a bit of him talking/writing utter shite and have a little smile to myself, but that is it now. I just smile to myself and carry on.

Johnnie · Post by **Johnnie** » Sun Mar 19, 2017 12:08 pm

Tom 1860 wrote:I suppose at this point (a few months in), people will start getting so used to hearing/reading his shit every day, that they will become numb to it all.

It is human nature to ignore the repetitive shit that does not directly impact you on a daily basis. I am already switching channels, moving the page on my ipad, clicking elsewhere on my computer and just shaking my head. Every so often, I will catch a bit of him talking/writing utter shite and have a little smile to myself, but that is it now. I just smile to myself and carry on.

The exact strategy they are using. Inundate you with so much shit that you can't possibly focus your energy and attention on it any longer and get bored. We have such an ADD mentality with everything that it works. I can't get worked up about stupid tweets and his behavior when I have to work in the morning, pay bills, and go about my day. Until he decapitates a child and drinks its blood on live tv, it's all chaff. And the political parties are too divided to do anything because of money and power.

You can blame this on both the proliferation of social media giving soapboxes to stupid people with misinformed and uneducated opinions and the traditional media not doing their jobs of calling bullshit because profits are more important than anything.

There was a distinct separation long ago (at least in my perception) where the people in power and the people ruled by them existed. The only way your voice was heard was by voting or maybe through a protest. Mainstream media was a check to the powerful and didn't give a platform to crazy people unless it was to mock them or warn others to not be like them. (That's a broad generalization with certain examples that go the other way, but like I said, that's my perception. I could very well be wrong.)

Now any idiot with a smartphone, social media channel, and some hashtag activism can be heard and then be put on traditional media outlets and be called a pundit. Because train wrecks equal ratings since we can't look away. Then it spawns others to do the same. Lather, rinse, repeat. There's gotta be a physiological response to seeing shit like this that simulates the brain the way drugs do. Each new thing that happens is like a hit of that good stuff. And since Americans are probably already addicted to something, its second nature to get addicted to this.

Johnnie · Post by **Johnnie** » Sun Mar 19, 2017 6:01 pm

Owner of Phoenix Trump billboard: It will stay up as long as Trump is president

Or until a Trumpkin climbs up there and defaces it.

Johnnie · Post by **Johnnie** » Mon Mar 20, 2017 12:42 am

I had no idea Bannon was on Real Time 6 years ago.

https://youtu.be/hobqpMvwYdo

And Seth MacFarlane handled the Overtime segment that night.

https://youtu.be/38e7h7kTDnw

tennbengal · Post by **tennbengal** » Mon Mar 20, 2017 9:40 am

Still nothing to see here on Russia/Trump pre-election ties?

DaveInSeattle · Post by **DaveInSeattle** » Mon Mar 20, 2017 12:03 pm

rass · Post by **rass** » Mon Mar 20, 2017 1:17 pm

Twunt?

rass · Post by **rass** » Mon Mar 20, 2017 1:22 pm

P.D.X. · Post by **P.D.X.** » Mon Mar 20, 2017 1:45 pm

Sums up why I can't root for the Broncos.

rass · Post by **rass** » Mon Mar 20, 2017 1:48 pm

I wish I could laugh more about stuff like this...

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Mon Mar 20, 2017 1:51 pm

rass wrote:

Spicer will be flying business class to the 8th circle of hell.

Comey did a classic eye roll at that idiot congressman from Ohio who was trying to get him to respond to hypotheticals.

Steve of phpBB · Post by **Steve of phpBB** » Mon Mar 20, 2017 3:20 pm

tennbengal wrote:Still nothing to see here on Russia/Trump pre-election ties?

I'm amused when the anti-anti-Russia folks say stuff like "Clapper said there was no evidence of collusion."

He said there was no *direct* evidence. Of course there is evidence of collusion - Trump doing what Russia wants, Russia doing what Trump wants, unexplained contacts between Trump's people and Russia's people. That is circumstantial evidence of collusion.

It just isn't "proof". But there will never be proof, because any piece of evidence can be rejected as a lie or forgery.

All that being said, though, I don't think collusion is really the place to focus. I still doubt there was an actual explicit collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, mostly because there was no need to collude. Russia hacked the DNC and leaked the results through Wikileaks, and Trump took advantage. Once Russia accomplished the hack, there was nothing really to collude about.

To me, the bigger issue is complicity (complicitness?). The Trump campaign did nothing to stop Russia's interference in the campaign. To the contrary, the Trump campaign willingly took advantage of it by amplifying the effects of the Wikileaks releases.

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Mon Mar 20, 2017 3:27 pm

But the crazy-making aspect of this, as with so many things Trump-related, is that he was on record saying that "someone" should hack the Clinton campaign.

He said that. Out loud. With people taking notes and everything.

And we're sitting here trying to hold an intelligent conversation about collusion or no collusion.

Steve of phpBB · Post by **Steve of phpBB** » Mon Mar 20, 2017 3:40 pm

Nonlinear FC wrote:But the crazy-making aspect of this, as with so many things Trump-related, is that he was on record saying that "someone" should hack the Clinton campaign.

He said that. Out loud. With people taking notes and everything.

And we're sitting here trying to hold an intelligent conversation about collusion or no collusion.

Yeah, but that really was an obvious joke - just running off his mouth. If Trump had made a hacking request in private, that would be a big deal.

Plus, he wasn't talking about Russia hacking the Clinton campaign, but finding the emails that had been deleted from her personal server from when she was Secretary of State.

Brontoburglar · Post by **Brontoburglar** » Mon Mar 20, 2017 3:48 pm

just like all the threats to nuke the swamp were jokes!

Johnnie · Post by **Johnnie** » Mon Mar 20, 2017 4:36 pm

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Mon Mar 20, 2017 4:48 pm

I'm sure right after the video cut off, Comey said Putin hates Clinton because of her sustained excellence.

sancarlos · Post by **sancarlos** » Mon Mar 20, 2017 5:10 pm

I'm extremely disappointed in John Elway.

Johnny Carwash · Post by **Johnny Carwash** » Mon Mar 20, 2017 5:15 pm

Does this swing Tom 1860's confirmation vote?

sancarlos · Post by **sancarlos** » Mon Mar 20, 2017 11:34 pm

Gunpowder · Post by **Gunpowder** » Tue Mar 21, 2017 9:07 am

The Sybian wrote:
P.D.X. wrote:The thing that kills me is that there is literally like a million people who could stand there and be more competent than him.
All it would take to be more competent is to stand there and not say a word, and not pick your nose. That's it. His joke that they both had their phones tapped by Obama is embarrassing on so many levels. I'm sure that is an extremely sore spot for Merkel, it's an embarrassment for the CIA or whatever agency, and FFS, the press just reported that Congress and the DOJ confirmed Trump either lied or is too fucking stupid to comprehend newspaper articles and falls for insane conspiracy theories. He truly isn't capable of feeling shame. Then refusing to shake Merkel's hand? What the fuck was that? He refuses to touch any woman who isn't a 5 or better? Yet, his people still gloat that we finally have a President the rest of the world respects.

It's amazing how far the bar dropped for Trump. We all winced and laughed at W's awkward attempt shoulder massage Merkel. A couple days ago I was thinking about the Dan Quayle "potatoes" scandal. Fuck, the guy misspelled a word and it destroyed his reputation. Trump can't go a day without doing, saying or Tweeting 10 things more embarrassing or unpresidential, and it just doesn't fucking matter.

HOWARD DEAN YELLED AFTER SAYING IOWA

Jerloma · Post by **Jerloma** » Tue Mar 21, 2017 11:01 am

The Sybian wrote:A couple days ago I was thinking about the Dan Quayle "potatoes" scandal. Fuck, the guy misspelled a word and it destroyed his reputation. Trump can't go a day without doing, saying or Tweeting 10 things more embarrassing or unpresidential, and it just doesn't fucking matter.

He misspelled the word "tap."

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Tue Mar 21, 2017 11:26 am

His approval rating is in the 30s. He has had the worst start to a presidency in modern times.

You guys keep saying "nothing seems to matter," when there is a lot.. A LOT ... of pretty clear evidence that this presidency is headed for an unprecedented collapse. We are fucking TWO MONTHS into this shitshow, and there is an FBI investigation that will cripple him for at least the next 6-12 months.

The budget he submitted is so draconian, even the dullest morons who voted for him are hearing about the loss of services it would inflict on them... and this is aside from the growing realization that Obamacare = their coverage that they couldn't get before.

I'm not saying the DNC won't fuck this up in 2018... But there are so many millions of people paying ZERO attention to the DNC and organizing all over the country in special elections. We don't need the fucking DNC to win back the House.

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Tue Mar 21, 2017 11:57 am

Agree with all this ^^^^^

Two months in and the wheels are falling off.

Meanwhile, Obama's Wire Tapps Claim First Victim

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Tue Mar 21, 2017 12:07 pm

Nonlinear FC wrote:His approval rating is in the 30s. He has had the worst start to a presidency in modern times.

You guys keep saying "nothing seems to matter," when there is a lot.. A LOT ... of pretty clear evidence that this presidency is headed for an unprecedented collapse. We are fucking TWO MONTHS into this shitshow, and there is an FBI investigation that will cripple him for at least the next 6-12 months.

The budget he submitted is so draconian, even the dullest morons who voted for him are hearing about the loss of services it would inflict on them... and this is aside from the growing realization that Obamacare = their coverage that they couldn't get before.

I'm not saying the DNC won't fuck this up in 2018... But there are so many millions of people paying ZERO attention to the DNC and organizing all over the country in special elections. We don't need the fucking DNC to win back the House.

Good point, I just lost all hope after a year and a half of nonstop words, Tweets and actions that should have immediately ended Trump's campaign. I keep hearing Watergate took 2 years to unravel. Learning about an event as history gives it an air of inevitability and immediacy, and in our age of instant everything, it feels like there are no consequences for anything Trump does or says. We are finally starting to see GOP Congressmen saying "there is no evidence to support" Trump's lunatic accusation against Obama. That is a start. From what I've seen and read, no Congressmen on the Intel Committee is defending Trump. Some are deflecting the focus onto the leaks rather than the substance, but nobody is defending him. That's a start.