Trump 2019 - There are still children in detention separated from their parents

[Mantra]

I kinda wonder if Trump just doesn't give a shit about much of anything, and so he's just trying stuff for the sake of trying it. It's like when you're playing Grand Theft Auto and you get bored with the story missions and decide you're gonna start shooting rocket launchers at random helicopters just to watch what happens.

Trump is a bored narcissistic who's nearing the end of a pretty meaningless life, and so I feel like the logic that drives most of his decisions at this point is basically just like, "Let's see what happens when you create eight constitutional crises at once, lollllll"

[theimage13]

"I didn't need to do this."

-Donald J Trump, confirming that he doesn't understand what the word "emergency" means. Hopefully also providing all the evidence that legal challenges will need.

[allegro]

I kinda wonder if Trump just doesn't give a shit about much of anything, and so he's just trying stuff for the sake of trying it. It's like when you're playing Grand Theft Auto and you get bored with the story missions and decide you're gonna start shooting rocket launchers at random helicopters just to watch what happens.

Trump is a bored narcissistic who's nearing the end of a pretty meaningless life, and so I feel like the logic that drives most of his decisions at this point is basically just like, "Let's see what happens when you create eight constitutional crises at once, lollllll"

He's pandering to his main base, he's up against a wall (no pun intended, LOL); he spent nearly every day of two years telling them that he'd build a wall. Then, he got into office and Republicans had a supermajority and NOT ONE INCH of new wall was built, even though Trump received $1.6 billion from Congress, then they never gave him one more penny of money even though he had a REPUBLICAN Congress.

Trump fans on Twitter say "NO, THEY NEED 60 VOTES IN THE SENATE!"

No. See RECONCILIATION.

The bottom line is that a Republican Congress just DIDN'T WANT THE FUCKING WALL. If they had, they would have pushed it through JUST LIKE THEY DID WITH THE TAX REFORM BILL (see, again, RECONCILIATION).

Ann Coulter, as much as I despise her as an opportunistic hate-mongering talentless hack, pretty much sums it up in this piece: http://www.anncoulter.com/columns/2018-12-19.html

For two years, Trump pretended to believe the president of the United States needs express authorization from Congress to defend the nation's borders and blamed the Republican majority for not "funding" the wall.

In a few weeks, he'll start blaming the Democratic House.

This is where Coulter and the Trump base are total fucking idiots: Only CONGRESS can authorize spending. So, yes, the President must receive the express authorization from Congress to get $$$.

It is now crystal clear that one of two things is true: Either Trump never intended to build the wall and was scamming voters all along, or he has no idea how to get it done and zero interest in finding out.

He sacrifices every opportunity to make the wall happen.

Ann, both are true. (And if you didn't have all of these invented emergencies to use for selling crappy books, you'd be unemployed and living in a van down by the river.)

But HERE is where Ann works her crystal ball:

The Washington Post loves to find the one crazy, trailer park lady who supports Trump because she's had religious ecstasies about him, but most people who voted for him did so with a boatload of qualms.

The basic factory setting on the perception of Trump is: gigantic douchebag. This is a man who manufactured fake Time magazine covers featuring himself with the headline, "Donald Trump: The 'Apprentice' is a television smash!" so that he could put framed copies of it on the walls of his clubs.

His business is convincing people with lowbrow taste to give him their money.

He's a vulgar publicity hound who used to call reporters in a fake voice and pretend to be his own PR agent, "John Miller" or "John Barron," so he could brag that actresses wanted to date him.

On one "Apprentice" episode, the reward for the winning team was: to see Trump's apartment. Not to eat there or spend the night. They got to see it. "As a little treat," he said, "you're gonna see the nicest apartment in New York City." He added: "I show this apartment to very few people. Presidents, kings ..."

It's not as if a majority of his voters weren't clear-eyed about what kind of man he is. If anything, Trump's vulgar narcissism made his vow to build a wall more believable. Respectable politicians had made similar promises over the years -- and they always betrayed the voters. Maybe it took a sociopath to ignore elite opinion and keep his word.

On the basis of his self-interest alone, he must know that if he doesn't build the wall, he has zero chance of being re-elected and a 100 percent chance of being utterly humiliated.

But when Trump is alone with Ivanka, they seem to agree that the wall has nothing to do with it. The people just love him for who he is! In a country of 320 million people, I'm sure there are some, but I have yet to meet a person who said, Yeah, I don't really care about immigration or trade, I just love his personality!

What else were we going to do? He was the only one talking sense. Unfortunately, that's all he does: talk. He's not interested in doing anything that would require the tiniest bit of effort.

In the end, we'll probably find out "wall" was Trump's "safe word" with Stormy Daniels. It's just something he blurts out whenever he's in trouble.

He's in trouble now. As absurd as the Russia nonsense is, the details about Trump's sleazy associates, the porn star, the Playboy playmate and his seedy business practices leave his supporters feeling queasy, even if he hasn't committed any crimes.

Instead of joining a fight that will make his most ardent supporters cringe no matter how it comes out, why not choose a battleground where he's guaranteed a win? If Trump used the military to build the wall -- actually build it, not keep telling us he's going to build it -- the Democrats will go mad.

They'll hold impeachment hearings, file a million lawsuits, produce weeping children reading from phony scripts written by immigrant rights groups -- and Trump will win. The public will support Trump overwhelmingly, and the left will be forced to keep reminding voters why they hate Democrats.

Instead, what he's doing now absolutely guarantees that the next president will be a Democrat and, given today's Democratic Party, that president will be Kamala Harris.

[Mantra]

^Yeah, I remember the first time you linked to that Ann Coulter piece. I think I came back and re-read it like six times over the next few days, lol, cause it really is a pretty mind-blowing article. It's so weird how she's actually kind of strangely insightful in certain sections of her critique, and also it's just fucking hilarious watching an ideological freak like her trying to deal with Trump's hollowness.

But the part where I think she's ludicrously wrong is actually the first part of your quoted segment, where she says that most people only supported him with a "boatload of qualms." I feel like that part is pretty insane. I don't know if she's deliberately trying to misrepresent the situation, or if she's genuinely clueless about the MAGA cult, or what. Because the reality is that, at least for now, Trump is still a populist with a cult of personality among right-wingers, and it's most definitely not just a few crazy ladies here and there in trailer parks (I love how Ann's smug classism shines through here, even towards the very people who share her psychotic ideology). Die hard Trump supporters are a very real thing, and there are very large numbers of them. The only people you could maybe argue were reluctant supporters of him were the sort of old-school "moderate" republicans who didn't care for Trump's style but couldn't bring themselves to support Hillary or throw away their vote on Johnson (i.e: Kasich-style Republicans, etc). Those were the main people you could say had a "boatload of qualms" about supporting Trump, but those people mostly weren't the hardcore wall advocates, so they're not even the kind of people Ann claims to be speaking for here. These maniacs screaming "build a wall" at his rallies were totally enraptured by the spectacle of Trump. There's just no way she can try to deny the existence of the MAGA cult.

The other thing that really struck me about that article is just how disdainful she is of both him and a lot of his supporters. Like that part about how his whole thing is built around fooling people with low-brow taste. I just don't understand why Trump would care about appeasing someone who views him like that, especially when you consider that the only thing he sincerely wants is to be worshiped and admired. He should have just called her bluff on this pointless wall showdown. Whatever moderate amount of influence Ann Coulter has among the right, it's insignificant compared to Trump's following. At the end of the day, Ann Coulter has nothing. Trump, on the other hand, has an enormous cult of obsessed fans who will defend him to the very end. In their minds, Trump always comes first. Her influence can't compete with that, and if push comes to shove, his followers will turn against her before they'll turn against him. So he could have ignored her and easily dealt with the fallout. So much for his 4D chess bullshit.

[allegro]

^ After that article, Coulter’s Twitter feed was filled with Trump fans defending Trump and telling her off for not trusting Trump. I didn’t notice ANY people displaying any qualms about her characterization of him OR his fan base, oddly enough.

Cut to shortly after this, when Trump was expected to sign the C.R. and extend the budget into 2019 without a wall. His fans were on Coulter’s Twitter feed saying there’s NO WAY they’d vote for him in 2020.

THAT gets attention. Not what Coulter says, but the shit she stirs up.

Next thing Trump did was shut down the Government.

It’s like he was hoping nobody would notice, then he could win in 2020 promising the wall again and put it off another 4 years then just go “bye!”

Ann Coulter today:

“The only national emergency is that our president is an idiot.”

[Jinsai]

I feel incredibly uncomfortable (and suspicious) when I find myself agreeing at all with Coulter.

[allegro]

Here's a paid ad from Kamala Harris that's appearing in Twitter. But look at the COMMENTS, wtf.

[richardp]

Y'all just gotta get the fuck off Twitter. Nothing good comes out of it, you just make yourselves mad reading all these Troll tweets.

[Jinsai]

Here's a paid ad from Kamala Harris that's appearing in Twitter. But look at the COMMENTS, wtf.

There's no way this just happened in a vacuum. I wonder if there's a link to "tell Kamala what we think" on some site that I won't go near, like Drudge Report.

[allegro]

There's no way this just happened in a vacuum. I wonder if there's a link to "tell Kamala what we think" on some site that I won't go near, like Drudge Report.

It’s an ad that randomly appears in your feed, and it looks like the only ones commenting IN AN AD right now are the Trump idiots. Because they’re that stupid.

Note, however, that the lefties have been trolling Trump’s Twitter feed RELENTLESSLY, NON-STOP for a long time. That Jacob Wohl asshole still comments, but then a hundred leftie people post that photo of him in his Sunglass Hut uniform at the mall. LOL.

Sometimes, Lou Dobbs does these Twitter polls like, “Do you think the President is doing a great job right now?” and links get passed around on the left - “LET’S FLIP THIS POLL!” - totally fucking with Lou Dobbs, I’ve participated in a bunch of those; a guy who linked several was blocked by Lou Dobbs, LOL, but then others started linking them.

Viewing Trump Twitter really gives you insight as to how tragically stupid these people are. They’re convinced that Soros is paying all of us on the left to be on Twitter (gee, that’d be great, actually), and that Twitter is run by the Deep State and is oppressing them, etc. The BLOCK feature is particularly useful these days because the Russian Troll propaganda accounts are out in droves. I use the REPORT feature and it works.

[ltrandazzo]

I changed the title to something that keeps coming up in my mind.

[ryanmcfly]

DOJ is preparing to announce the conclusion of the Mueller investigation, possibly next week.
https://thehill.com/policy/national-...s-soon-as-next

Don't know if it's because the AG Shut it down or if Mueller is actually done.

[allegro]

DOJ is preparing to announce the conclusion of the Mueller investigation, possibly next week.
https://thehill.com/policy/national-...s-soon-as-next

Don't know if it's because the AG Shut it down or if Mueller is actually done.

This is surprising because they still have the Stone trial ahead of them. Of course, that will SURVIVE the Mueller investigation, as will any remaining grand jury investigations running under the SDNY, even if Mueller is shut down.

[theimage13]

https://www.npr.org/2019/02/26/69770...ig-week-in-d-c

Cohen testifying in a mix of public and closed door hearings this week. Wednesday's will be televised live.

[sweeterthan]

https://www.npr.org/2019/02/26/69770...ig-week-in-d-c

Cohen testifying in a mix of public and closed door hearings this week. Wednesday's will be televised live.

Omg I wonder if trump will live tweet.

[ryanmcfly]

https://www.npr.org/2019/02/26/69770...ig-week-in-d-c

Cohen testifying in a mix of public and closed door hearings this week. Wednesday's will be televised live.

Gotta get the popcorn ready

[theimage13]

Omg I wonder if trump will live tweet.

I haven't seen schedules for the testimony OR the summit, but keep in mind that Trump is 12 hours ahead of EST and meeting with Rocket Man on Wednesday.

[Jinsai]

Has anyone noted the crazy CRAZY fucking Tweet he made in response to Spike Lee's Oscar speech? Racist?

What the FUCK was racist about it?! If anything, assuming it stemmed from racism despite a complete lack of supporting evidence is racist as fuck.

Though, I guess, we already knew he was an insecure racist and a panderer to racists. All of this gets naturally swept under the rug as Trump visits with Kim Jong Un again (please, don't fuck this up... don't trade a photo-op for standing diplomacy, you crazy asshole), and Cohen is testifying, and Mueller is winding up the report (apparently?)...

Stil, I'm kinda shocked his crazy attack on Spike Lee isn't getting more condemnation. Are we this normalized to this bullshit?

[theimage13]

Stil, I'm kinda shocked his crazy attack on Spike Lee isn't getting more condemnation. Are we this normalized to this bullshit?

Yes.

[sweeterthan]

I haven't seen schedules for the testimony OR the summit, but keep in mind that Trump is 12 hours ahead of EST and meeting with Rocket Man on Wednesday.

Yeah I just saw that. guess we’ll be waiting for the king’s response.

Cross your fingers Cohen reveals something about hannity. I want to know why he needs a fixer.

Has anyone noted the crazy CRAZY fucking Tweet he made in response to Spike Lee's Oscar speech? Racist?

What the FUCK was racist about it?! If anything, assuming it stemmed from racism despite a complete lack of supporting evidence is racist as fuck.

Though, I guess, we already knew he was an insecure racist and a panderer to racists. All of this gets naturally swept under the rug as Trump visits with Kim Jong Un again (please, don't fuck this up... don't trade a photo-op for standing diplomacy, you crazy asshole), and Cohen is testifying, and Mueller is winding up the report (apparently?)...

Stil, I'm kinda shocked his crazy attack on Spike Lee isn't getting more condemnation. Are we this normalized to this bullshit?

To trump it’s racist because it’s a black guy telling people to vote. He feels attacked.

[allegro]

Spike Lee just said “choose love over hate.”

He had a giant “LOVE” ring on one hand and a “HATE” one on the other.

Here’s Trump’s tweet:

It got retweeted 30k times, but that’s actually not much as far as voters go.

[Jinsai]

Spike Lee just said “choose love over hate.”

He had a giant “LOVE” ring on one hand and a “HATE” one on the other.

Here’s Trump’s tweet:

It got retweeted 30k times, but that’s actually not much as far as voters go.

It also got (I guess) nearly 150,000 likes...

WaPo just wrote an article about it, chronicling the number of times Trump has publicly accused black people of racism vs white people.

Is a spoiler alert necessary?

[allegro]

Yeah those oppressed white folks on Twitter love when he talks like that. They were rampant on Twitter during the Smollett thing, insisting that racial hate crimes no longer exist and that “being a victim is a choice.”

Here is a transcript of Spike Lee’s speech:


All right. I wanna thank Tonya [Lewis Lee, his wife].

The word today is irony. The date, the 24th. The month of February, which happens to be the shortest month of the year, which also happens to be Black History month. The year, 2019; the year, 1619. History, her story. 1619, 2019, 400 years. Four hundred years, our ancestors were stolen from Africa and brought to Jamestown, Virginia, to be enslaved. Our ancestors worked the land from morning to night.

My grandmother [unintelligible] lived to be 100 years young, who was a Spelman College graduate, even though her mother was a slave. My grandma, who saved 50 years of Social Security checks to put her first grandchild, she called me "Spikey poo," put me through Morehouse College and NYU Film. NYU!

Before the world tonight, I can praise our ancestors who helped build this country into what it was today along with the genocide of its native people. If we all connect with our ancestors, we will have love wisdom, and regain our humanity. It will be a powerful moment. The 2020 presidential election is around the corner! Let's all mobilize, let's all be on the right side of history. Make the moral choice between love versus hate. Let's do the right thing! You know I had to get that in there.

[ickyvicky]

Gotta get the popcorn ready

Anyone know what time it's going to be on?

[allegro]

Anyone know what time it's going to be on?

10 am Eastern

[Jinsai]

Yeah those oppressed white folks on Twitter love when he talks like that. They were rampant on Twitter during the Smollett thing, insisting that racial hate crimes no longer exist and that “being a victim is a choice.”

Here is a transcript of Spike Lee’s speech:


All right. I wanna thank Tonya [Lewis Lee, his wife].

The word today is irony. The date, the 24th. The month of February, which happens to be the shortest month of the year, which also happens to be Black History month. The year, 2019; the year, 1619. History, her story. 1619, 2019, 400 years. Four hundred years, our ancestors were stolen from Africa and brought to Jamestown, Virginia, to be enslaved. Our ancestors worked the land from morning to night.

My grandmother [unintelligible] lived to be 100 years young, who was a Spelman College graduate, even though her mother was a slave. My grandma, who saved 50 years of Social Security checks to put her first grandchild, she called me "Spikey poo," put me through Morehouse College and NYU Film. NYU!

Before the world tonight, I can praise our ancestors who helped build this country into what it was today along with the genocide of its native people. If we all connect with our ancestors, we will have love wisdom, and regain our humanity. It will be a powerful moment. The 2020 presidential election is around the corner! Let's all mobilize, let's all be on the right side of history. Make the moral choice between love versus hate. Let's do the right thing! You know I had to get that in there.

I think some of the counterpunch to this is focused more on addressing the potential criticism of Trump. Seriously though, it's no secret that Lee doesn't like him, and in the movie's ending it juxtaposes the situation in Charlottesville and Trump's remarks as context to the film. Then again, I'd be shocked if Trump watched the movie. He's too busy watching things like Sicario so that he can fabricate Hollywood scenarios about human trafficking.

Even then though, NOTHING in that speech was racist. He might as well have walked up and said "uh, thanks, and Trump sucks." And still, nothing there is a "racist hit" on the president. This is shocking.

Imagine if Obama had implied that Sean Hannity doesn't like him cuz he's white.

[allegro]

Meanwhile, in the Blatant Witness Intimidation Department, this from FL Republican Representative Matt Gaetz:



(note: he removed his tweet)

[allegro]

Madam Speaker’s response:

[allegro]

See also, Discipline and Punishment.

[theimage13]

Meanwhile, in the Blatant Witness Intimidation Department, this from FL Republican Representative Matt Gaetz:

Edit, p.s. the comments are AWESOME.

OMG people screenshotting this and sending it to the OCE. I love it.

edit: I'm gonna open a big can of worms here and ask this question: if you believe that someone who was documented making poor decisions (not illegal, but dumb) literally 30-40 years prior, as college students, should be forced to resign when said actions come to light, should people like this also be forced to resign? (Not commenting on this one way or another myself; just curious to see how others feel)