The Swamp

Posted: **Sat Jun 15, 2019 2:32 pm**

People say trumps stupid to say he’d accept foreign intelligence help in election. I say lean into it and get the damn pee tape.

Posted: **Tue Jun 18, 2019 10:30 am**

Posted: **Tue Jun 18, 2019 11:45 am**

To be fair, everyone should have representation. Even John Adams defended the British soldiers who took part in the Boston Massacre. So "mob lawyer" is dumb.

The dude is a non impartial head of an agency who is insulating treason of his boss. He was able to craft a narrative well in advance to make sure Trump looked the best and plant the seed that a huge 2 year report was nothing more than misguided suggestion indeterminate of nothing important.

And this is why Mueller pisses me off. Despite Barr previously writing a longer missive stating the investigation was bullshit than his "synopsis" of the report itself, Mueller balked. He didn't explicitly state that the actual Attorney General is compromised, nor did he mention "if we could have, we would have" in regards to indicting Trump.

Ultimately, he played by the rules. Rules that the GOP stomped all over, predictably. And here we are. You think Hitler gives a fuck about his legacy? Shit, everyone compares everyone else to him when bad things happen. I'm sure the ghost of Hitler would be all like "No, yeah. That's totally something I'd do. Good call." So, whatever. The eventual ghosts of Barr, McConnell, Trump et al will be looking up from hell in delight at future discussions of "how not to leave a legacy." Because they'll still be remembered and the rest of us are fucked because of it.

Posted: **Tue Jun 18, 2019 12:10 pm**

So...since I mute the fuck out of all things Trump on twitter and avoid most news I am finally missing stuff, but, apparently he is going to have the brown shirts do mass arrests next week?

That seems...sub-optimal.

Posted: **Tue Jun 18, 2019 12:28 pm**

You'd think we'd want a Sec'y of Defense...what with all the saber rattling with Iran:

And they actually trotted out the 'spend time with family' line. Geez...

Posted: **Tue Jun 18, 2019 2:52 pm**

DaveInSeattle wrote: ↑Tue Jun 18, 2019 12:28 pm You'd think we'd want a Sec'y of Defense...what with all the saber rattling with Iran:

And they actually trotted out the 'spend time with family' line. Geez...

And holy shit...after reading this story, I cannot believe they said anything about his family:

As Trump’s defense pick withdraws, he addresses violent domestic incidents

In November 2011, Shanahan rushed to defend his then-17-year-old son, William Shanahan, in the days after the teenager brutally beat his mother. The attack had left Shanahan’s ex-wife unconscious in a pool of blood, her skull fractured, and with internal injuries that required surgery, according to court and police records.

Two weeks later, Shanahan sent his ex-wife’s brother a memo arguing that his son had acted in self-defense.

“Use of a baseball bat in self-defense will likely be viewed as an imbalance of force,” Shanahan wrote. “However, Will’s mother harassed him for nearly three hours before the incident.”

Posted: **Tue Jun 18, 2019 2:58 pm**

Holy fucking Christ.

Posted: **Tue Jun 18, 2019 3:05 pm**

Only the best, amirite?

Posted: **Tue Jun 18, 2019 3:10 pm**

So now we know who Hope Hicks' next beau is.

Posted: **Tue Jun 18, 2019 3:17 pm**

L-Jam3 wrote: ↑Tue Jun 18, 2019 3:10 pm So now we know who Hope Hicks' next beau is.

Oof. I really wish I didn't laugh at that.

Posted: **Tue Jun 18, 2019 3:39 pm**

I think he should be nominated for the Secretary of Self Defense, personally.

Posted: **Tue Jun 18, 2019 6:47 pm**

Johnnie wrote: ↑Tue Jun 18, 2019 3:39 pm I think he should be nominated for the Secretary of Self Defense, personally.

Bravo!

Posted: **Thu Jun 20, 2019 12:41 pm**

Posted: **Thu Jun 20, 2019 2:53 pm**

I hate playing the 'If Obama did this...' game, but can you image the Grade-1 Hannity Meltdown on FoxNews if Iran shot down a drone and Obama said 'I'm sure it was a mistake...'

Posted: **Thu Jun 20, 2019 2:57 pm**

Can't believe I'm going to defend/commend Trump, but he personally really seems to have no appetite for war with Iran or Venezuela. That doesn't mean there aren't hawks in his administration pushing for it, but doesn't seem like he really wants that, which is a tiny cherry on a huge turd sundae.

Posted: **Thu Jun 20, 2019 3:15 pm**

brian wrote: ↑Thu Jun 20, 2019 2:57 pm Can't believe I'm going to defend/commend Trump, but he personally really seems to have no appetite for war with Iran or Venezuela. That doesn't mean there aren't hawks in his administration pushing for it, but doesn't seem like he really wants that, which is a tiny cherry on a huge turd sundae.

Yeah, it would be absolutely criminal to use Iran shooting down an unmanned spy drone as justification to start another war. (Would we just let Iran fly surveillance drones over our airspace?) So to the extent Trump is pushing back on the Bolton and Pompeo types in his administration, that’s a good thing.

Posted: **Thu Jun 20, 2019 6:16 pm**

This honestly feels like one of those times where the powers that be know the truth of the situation, but end up going "Ehhhh, we're not going to get into it....even if there might be justification somewhere."

Posted: **Fri Jun 21, 2019 8:14 am**

So Trump finally gave in to Bolton begging for war and then something made him suddenly change his mind (Good advice from the Pentagon? A last minute text from Putin?). I go back and forth on following Seth Abramson, but Saudi Arabia and Israel seem to be pulling a lot of Trump's strings.

And of course, how would Fox react if Obama initiated a strike against Iran and then changed his mind like this?

Posted: **Fri Jun 21, 2019 8:25 am**

I, for one, am happy that we didn't retaliate.

So, and it pains me to say this, kudos to Trump or whoever made the call.

All the chickenhawks can go fuck themselves. They have the privilege of never having to deal with war or warzones from the comfort of their armchair general thrones. Fuckers.

Posted: **Fri Jun 21, 2019 8:30 am**

EdRomero wrote: ↑Fri Jun 21, 2019 8:14 am So Trump finally gave in to Bolton begging for war and then something made him suddenly change his mind (Good advice from the Pentagon? A last minute text from Putin?). I go back on forth on following Seth Abramson, but Saudi Arabia and Israel seem to be pulling a lot of Trump's strings.

And of course, how would Fox react if Obama initiated a strike against Iran and then changed his mind like this?

Following good advice from the Pentagon doesn't sound like Trump, but a text from Putin seems plausible.

Obama saying Iran shot down our military aircraft, but it was probably just a mistake... yeah, there would have been riots in the streets. That might be as bad as Trump saying every intel agency says Putin meddled with our election, but Vlad told me he didn't, and why would he? Then minutes later Vlad says at a press conference he wanted Trump to win. Yeah, Obama was the weak leader caving in to our enemies...

Posted: **Fri Jun 21, 2019 8:31 am**

Johnnie wrote: ↑Fri Jun 21, 2019 8:25 am I, for one, am happy that we didn't retaliate.

So, and it pains me to say this, kudos to Trump or whoever made the call.

All the chickenhawks can go fuck themselves. They have the privilege of never having to deal with war or warzones from the comfort of their armchair general thrones. Fuckers.

100% agree with this. Bolton and the rest are itching for a reason to bomb Iran, and I am shocked, but very cautiously relieved Trump is somehow a voice of reason this one time.

Posted: **Fri Jun 21, 2019 10:38 am**

The Sybian wrote: ↑Fri Jun 21, 2019 8:31 am
Johnnie wrote: ↑Fri Jun 21, 2019 8:25 am I, for one, am happy that we didn't retaliate.

So, and it pains me to say this, kudos to Trump or whoever made the call.

All the chickenhawks can go fuck themselves. They have the privilege of never having to deal with war or warzones from the comfort of their armchair general thrones. Fuckers.
100% agree with this. Bolton and the rest are itching for a reason to bomb Iran, and I am shocked, but very cautiously relieved Trump is somehow a voice of reason this one time.

Bingo. And kudos to Trump for publicly raising the issue of how many people would be killed from an air strike. (Even if he was lying about why he cancelled the attack.)

Posted: **Fri Jun 21, 2019 11:54 am**

I think this is as simple as Trump controlling the narrative.

He trots Pompeo out to completely misrepresent what happened, so the war machine starts to bubble and steam.

Then he sets himself up to be the voice of reason.

How or why would anybody give Trump the benefit of the doubt here? He's been a fraud his entire life.

Posted: **Fri Jun 21, 2019 1:01 pm**

EnochRoot wrote: ↑Fri Jun 21, 2019 11:54 am I think this is as simple as Trump controlling the narrative.

He trots Pompeo out to completely misrepresent what happened, so the war machine starts to bubble and steam.

Then he sets himself up to be the voice of reason.

It's hard for me to believe that Trump is smart enough to devise and follow that script.

Posted: **Fri Jun 21, 2019 1:05 pm**

sancarlos wrote: ↑Fri Jun 21, 2019 1:01 pm
EnochRoot wrote: ↑Fri Jun 21, 2019 11:54 am I think this is as simple as Trump controlling the narrative.

He trots Pompeo out to completely misrepresent what happened, so the war machine starts to bubble and steam.

Then he sets himself up to be the voice of reason.
It's hard for me to believe that Trump is smart enough to devise and follow that script.

Agreed. While I did say Trump was the voice of reason, I find it hard to believe he came to his decision in a reasonable way. He did the reasonable thing, but probably took a very bizarre journey to get there, or someone who controls him (with dirt or by saying nice things about him) told him not to escalate.

Posted: **Fri Jun 21, 2019 1:28 pm**

I know I've trotted out the Fucking Moron tag a whole bunch, but...

The guy is actively pushing the notion that his is the first presidency run as a reality TV show. Now, I'm not saying that he sat down and scripted out every episode of The Apprentice, but... A lot of what he does is meant to begin and end within 1 news cycle, maybe a few news cycles if need be. The Iranian thing is very much a multi-episode or multi-segment episode in his mind.

Reality TV isn't exactly rocket surgery, so the notion that he can script or scope out a scenario like this isn't exactly calling him a very stable genius here.

Posted: **Fri Jun 21, 2019 2:12 pm**

sancarlos wrote: ↑Fri Jun 21, 2019 1:01 pm
EnochRoot wrote: ↑Fri Jun 21, 2019 11:54 am I think this is as simple as Trump controlling the narrative.

He trots Pompeo out to completely misrepresent what happened, so the war machine starts to bubble and steam.

Then he sets himself up to be the voice of reason.
It's hard for me to believe that Trump is smart enough to devise and follow that script.

Its hard for me to believe any of this latest episode. There's NO WAY that when the military laid out the options for the strike on Iran that they didn't give him potential casualties numbers.

So why did he give the order....then change his mind 10 minutes before the strike was about to start?

Something is fishy here. Not to go all conspiracy, but can someone check the phone logs for a call coming from a Moscow area code?

Posted: **Fri Jun 21, 2019 2:45 pm**

The Sybian wrote: ↑Fri Jun 21, 2019 1:05 pm
sancarlos wrote: ↑Fri Jun 21, 2019 1:01 pm
EnochRoot wrote: ↑Fri Jun 21, 2019 11:54 am I think this is as simple as Trump controlling the narrative.

He trots Pompeo out to completely misrepresent what happened, so the war machine starts to bubble and steam.

Then he sets himself up to be the voice of reason.
It's hard for me to believe that Trump is smart enough to devise and follow that script.
Agreed. While I did say Trump was the voice of reason, I find it hard to believe he came to his decision in a reasonable way. He did the reasonable thing, but probably took a very bizarre journey to get there, or someone who controls him (with dirt or by saying nice things about him) told him not to escalate.

Oh, sure. But still, the fact remains that (i) he ultimately chose not to order an air strike that would have killed people and moved us closer to a war, and (ii) in his public statement about it, he brought up the fact that air strikes kill people, and promoted the idea - whether he believes it or not - that it isn't good to order air strikes that kill people.

Posted: **Mon Jun 24, 2019 4:45 pm**

Posted: **Mon Jun 24, 2019 5:44 pm**

Posted: **Tue Jun 25, 2019 9:00 am**

Posted: **Tue Jun 25, 2019 9:04 am**

sancarlos wrote: ↑Mon Jun 24, 2019 5:44 pm

This may be the ultimate example of "preaching to the choir."

I am convinced that every time actors and other celebrities do things like this, thousands of otherwise intelligent people edge closer to the other side.

Posted: **Tue Jun 25, 2019 9:08 am**

Pruitt wrote: ↑Tue Jun 25, 2019 9:04 am
sancarlos wrote: ↑Mon Jun 24, 2019 5:44 pm
This may be the ultimate example of "preaching to the choir."

I am convinced that every time actors and other celebrities do things like this, thousands of otherwise intelligent people edge closer to the other side.

I don't like this saying. It's not like the whole choir went to seminary school. They may need some churching, too!

Posted: **Tue Jun 25, 2019 11:33 am**

Pruitt wrote: ↑Tue Jun 25, 2019 9:04 am

This may be the ultimate example of "preaching to the choir."

I am convinced that every time actors and other celebrities do things like this, thousands of otherwise intelligent people edge closer to the other side.

I usually agree with this, but that wasn't my initial reaction. I think there is so much damning information laid out in the Mueller Report, and most people won't ever read or hear the info. Hell, I bought the Washington Post's book compiling the Report and presented materials with analysis, and I can't get myself to read the full Report. It's like a miniaturized photocopy of the Report, which makes it hard to read, but I digress. I can't help but think about the woman interviewed at Amash's Town Hall meeting, who thought she was well-informed and open minded, but she was shocked to hear that there was anything negative about Trump in the Report.

My initial reaction was, "great, if high profile actors read the Report, maybe it will be more digestible and maybe people will attempt to hear it." I do agree, the FoxNews crowd loves to shit on Liberal's and our love for Hollywood and our desire to be spoon fed our beliefs by Matt Damon and Susan Sarandon, while they go wild for Scott Baio, Clint Eastwood and Ted Nugent at the GOP Convention. I don't think many people who shit on the Hollywood Liberals would actually believe anything negative in the Report anyways, so who gives a fuck what they say? If anyone learns something or is swayed, great, but I doubt many people will watch/listen anyways.

Posted: **Tue Jun 25, 2019 1:24 pm**

The Sybian wrote: ↑Tue Jun 25, 2019 11:33 am
Pruitt wrote: ↑Tue Jun 25, 2019 9:04 am

This may be the ultimate example of "preaching to the choir."

I am convinced that every time actors and other celebrities do things like this, thousands of otherwise intelligent people edge closer to the other side.
I usually agree with this, but that wasn't my initial reaction. I think there is so much damning information laid out in the Mueller Report, and most people won't ever read or hear the info. Hell, I bought the Washington Post's book compiling the Report and presented materials with analysis, and I can't get myself to read the full Report. It's like a miniaturized photocopy of the Report, which makes it hard to read, but I digress. I can't help but think about the woman interviewed at Amash's Town Hall meeting, who thought she was well-informed and open minded, but she was shocked to hear that there was anything negative about Trump in the Report.

My initial reaction was, "great, if high profile actors read the Report, maybe it will be more digestible and maybe people will attempt to hear it." I do agree, the FoxNews crowd loves to shit on Liberal's and our love for Hollywood and our desire to be spoon fed our beliefs by Matt Damon and Susan Sarandon, while they go wild for Scott Baio, Clint Eastwood and Ted Nugent at the GOP Convention. I don't think many people who shit on the Hollywood Liberals would actually believe anything negative in the Report anyways, so who gives a fuck what they say? If anyone learns something or is swayed, great, but I doubt many people will watch/listen anyways.

Things are so messed up that just the act of reading the report is probably seen as being part of some liberal conspiracy.

Posted: **Tue Jun 25, 2019 2:19 pm**

Posted: **Tue Jun 25, 2019 3:04 pm**

mister d wrote: ↑Tue Jun 25, 2019 2:19 pm

Fucking horse shit journalists. Should be embarrassed for themselves.

Posted: **Tue Jun 25, 2019 5:45 pm**

there is a line that can be balanced with developing relationships with administration officials -- think of all of the shit that's been broken via unnamed sources, some/many of whom were undoubtedly in attendance at that gathering -- and going to the gathering and treating it as some sort of sendoff for a friend or someone who is a decent person

Posted: **Tue Jun 25, 2019 5:48 pm**

I'm sure Sanders played favorites with WH reporters too, so using the words of one journalist to impugn everyone is pretty dumb. Journalists are no different than all of us -- we have different political beliefs that range mostly on the left side of things, but certainly differences of opinion all the time. Sanders is a horrible person, but the idea that the WH press corps as a whole is buddy buddy with her couldn't be further from the truth (from what I've read).

Posted: **Tue Jun 25, 2019 5:58 pm**

The Swamp

Trump Admin Meltdown Thread Part III - A Democratic House

Re: Trump Admin Meltdown Thread Part III - A Democratic House

Re: Trump Admin Meltdown Thread Part III - A Democratic House

Re: Trump Admin Meltdown Thread Part III - A Democratic House

Re: Trump Admin Meltdown Thread Part III - A Democratic House

Re: Trump Admin Meltdown Thread Part III - A Democratic House

Re: Trump Admin Meltdown Thread Part III - A Democratic House

Re: Trump Admin Meltdown Thread Part III - A Democratic House

Re: Trump Admin Meltdown Thread Part III - A Democratic House

Re: Trump Admin Meltdown Thread Part III - A Democratic House

Re: Trump Admin Meltdown Thread Part III - A Democratic House

Re: Trump Admin Meltdown Thread Part III - A Democratic House

Re: Trump Admin Meltdown Thread Part III - A Democratic House

Re: Trump Admin Meltdown Thread Part III - A Democratic House

Re: Trump Admin Meltdown Thread Part III - A Democratic House

Re: Trump Admin Meltdown Thread Part III - A Democratic House

Re: Trump Admin Meltdown Thread Part III - A Democratic House

Re: Trump Admin Meltdown Thread Part III - A Democratic House

Re: Trump Admin Meltdown Thread Part III - A Democratic House

Re: Trump Admin Meltdown Thread Part III - A Democratic House

Re: Trump Admin Meltdown Thread Part III - A Democratic House

Re: Trump Admin Meltdown Thread Part III - A Democratic House

Re: Trump Admin Meltdown Thread Part III - A Democratic House

Re: Trump Admin Meltdown Thread Part III - A Democratic House

Re: Trump Admin Meltdown Thread Part III - A Democratic House

Re: Trump Admin Meltdown Thread Part III - A Democratic House

Re: Trump Admin Meltdown Thread Part III - A Democratic House

Re: Trump Admin Meltdown Thread Part III - A Democratic House

Re: Trump Admin Meltdown Thread Part III - A Democratic House

Re: Trump Admin Meltdown Thread Part III - A Democratic House

Re: Trump Admin Meltdown Thread Part III - A Democratic House

Re: Trump Admin Meltdown Thread Part III - A Democratic House

Re: Trump Admin Meltdown Thread Part III - A Democratic House

Re: Trump Admin Meltdown Thread Part III - A Democratic House

Re: Trump Admin Meltdown Thread Part III - A Democratic House

Re: Trump Admin Meltdown Thread Part III - A Democratic House

Re: Trump Admin Meltdown Thread Part III - A Democratic House

Re: Trump Admin Meltdown Thread Part III - A Democratic House

Re: Trump Admin Meltdown Thread Part III - A Democratic House

Re: Trump Admin Meltdown Thread Part III - A Democratic House

Re: Trump Admin Meltdown Thread Part III - A Democratic House