The Former Trump Presidency Thread

tgb · Post by **tgb** » Tue May 23, 2017 9:14 am

I'm surprised he didn't leave a wish for Robert Mueller to be struck by lightening.

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Tue May 23, 2017 9:22 am

Holman wrote:
link

Trump wins on reusability. He can use that same note for Disneyland, Normandy, a Shinto shrine, the Presidency, his wife's bedroom...

Bland vanilla oatmeal. A frigging skeleton key.

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Tue May 23, 2017 9:40 am

What a fucking moron. A high school student writes with more insight in a yearbook.

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Tue May 23, 2017 9:44 am

tgb wrote:I'm surprised he didn't leave a wish for Robert Mueller to be struck by lightening.

Is that like levitation?

Daveman · Post by **Daveman** » Tue May 23, 2017 10:44 am

So first we had "bad hombres" and now "evil losers" because terrorists don't deserve to be called monsters. Oooh burn!

Alefroth · Post by **Alefroth** » Tue May 23, 2017 2:34 pm

Remus West wrote:Am I the only one bothered by Trump's eyes in that Orb picture? Are they closed? All white? What the hell is up with them?

Those are his puffy lower eyelids.

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Tue May 23, 2017 2:41 pm

Daveman wrote:So first we had "bad hombres" and now "evil losers" because terrorists don't deserve to be called monsters. Oooh burn!

"Losers" than none the less have managed to avoid being eliminated in 30 days as promised by...well, what did the kids used say? It takes one to know one?

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Wed May 24, 2017 2:05 pm

Donald Trump’s Base Is Shrinking

A widely held tenet of the current conventional wisdom is that while President Trump might not be popular overall, he has a high floor on his support. Trump’s sizable and enthusiastic base — perhaps 35 to 40 percent of the country — won’t abandon him any time soon, the theory goes, and they don’t necessarily care about some of the controversies that the “mainstream media” treats as game-changing developments.

It’s an entirely reasonable theory. We live in a highly partisan epoch, and voters are usually loyal to politicians from their party. Trump endured a lot of turbulence in the general election but stuck it out to win the Electoral College. The media doesn’t always guess right about which stories will resonate with voters.

But the theory isn’t supported by the evidence. To the contrary, Trump’s base seems to be eroding. There’s been a considerable decline in the number of Americans who strongly approve of Trump, from a peak of around 30 percent in February to just 21 or 22 percent of the electorate now. (The decline in Trump’s strong approval ratings is larger than the overall decline in his approval ratings, in fact.) Far from having unconditional love from his base, Trump has already lost almost a third of his strong support. And voters who strongly disapprove of Trump outnumber those who strongly approve of him by about a 2-to-1 ratio, which could presage an “enthusiasm gap” that works against Trump at the midterms. The data suggests, in particular, that the GOP’s initial attempt (and failure) in March to pass its unpopular health care bill may have cost Trump with his core supporters.

These estimates come from the collection of polls we use for FiveThirtyEight’s approval ratings tracker. Many approval-rating polls give respondents four options: strongly approve, somewhat approve, somewhat disapprove and strongly disapprove. Ordinarily, we only estimate Trump’s overall approval and disapproval. But we went back and collected this more detailed data for all polls for which it was available, and then we reran our approval ratings program to output numbers for all four approval categories instead of the usual two.

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Wed May 24, 2017 2:29 pm

Who needs better weather forecasts anyway? Just another reminder we live through the looking glass. Guess we should punt weather forecasting to the states too, amirite?

Edit: Footnote - looking at the big picture, if you were to put together a set of policies that undermines the United States wouldn't they look like these? Cutting NIH, NOAA, NWS, etc. seems to undercut national security in *very obvious* ways. I actually believe that even the pathetic bottom feeders in Congress aren't this full of stupid. I can't get my mind wrapped around right-wing ideology going so far off path that basic functions that serve national security are on the chopping block. These are such small ticket items that the idea that they made the list of cuts is itself a hint that something is very, very wrong under the covers here.

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Wed May 24, 2017 2:33 pm

Max Peck wrote:Donald Trump’s Base Is Shrinking

No, no, no, it's growing backwards!

gilraen · Post by **gilraen** » Wed May 24, 2017 3:23 pm

malchior wrote:Who needs better weather forecasts anyway? Just another reminder we live through the looking glass. Guess we should punt weather forecasting to the states too, amirite?

Edit: Footnote - looking at the big picture, if you were to put together a set of policies that undermines the United States wouldn't they look like these? Cutting NIH, NOAA, NWS, etc. seems to undercut national security in *very obvious* ways. I actually believe that even the pathetic bottom feeders in Congress aren't this full of stupid. I can't get my mind wrapped around right-wing ideology going so far off path that basic functions that serve national security are on the chopping block. These are such small ticket items that the idea that they made the list of cuts is itself a hint that something is very, very wrong under the covers here.

Just goes to prove that Trump doesn't actually read the bills that he signs, since this budget proposal directly contradicts his own bill.

Pyperkub · Post by **Pyperkub** » Wed May 24, 2017 4:07 pm

Max Peck wrote:Donald Trump’s Base Is Shrinking
A widely held tenet of the current conventional wisdom is that while President Trump might not be popular overall, he has a high floor on his support. Trump’s sizable and enthusiastic base — perhaps 35 to 40 percent of the country — won’t abandon him any time soon, the theory goes, and they don’t necessarily care about some of the controversies that the “mainstream media” treats as game-changing developments.

It’s an entirely reasonable theory. We live in a highly partisan epoch, and voters are usually loyal to politicians from their party. Trump endured a lot of turbulence in the general election but stuck it out to win the Electoral College. The media doesn’t always guess right about which stories will resonate with voters.

But the theory isn’t supported by the evidence. To the contrary, Trump’s base seems to be eroding. There’s been a considerable decline in the number of Americans who strongly approve of Trump, from a peak of around 30 percent in February to just 21 or 22 percent of the electorate now. (The decline in Trump’s strong approval ratings is larger than the overall decline in his approval ratings, in fact.) Far from having unconditional love from his base, Trump has already lost almost a third of his strong support. And voters who strongly disapprove of Trump outnumber those who strongly approve of him by about a 2-to-1 ratio, which could presage an “enthusiasm gap” that works against Trump at the midterms. The data suggests, in particular, that the GOP’s initial attempt (and failure) in March to pass its unpopular health care bill may have cost Trump with his core supporters.

These estimates come from the collection of polls we use for FiveThirtyEight’s approval ratings tracker. Many approval-rating polls give respondents four options: strongly approve, somewhat approve, somewhat disapprove and strongly disapprove. Ordinarily, we only estimate Trump’s overall approval and disapproval. But we went back and collected this more detailed data for all polls for which it was available, and then we reran our approval ratings program to output numbers for all four approval categories instead of the usual two.

And Leon's getting larger!

tgb · Post by **tgb** » Wed May 24, 2017 11:11 pm

Here's a shocker: Trump thinks Duterte is just swell.

"I just wanted to congratulate you because I am hearing of the unbelievable job on the drug problem," Trump said in the April 29 phone call,,,,,,"Many countries have the problem, we have a problem, but what a great job you are doing and I just wanted to call and tell you that."

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Thu May 25, 2017 12:10 am

tgb wrote:Here's a shocker: Trump thinks Duterte is just swell.
"I just wanted to congratulate you because I am hearing of the unbelievable job on the drug problem," Trump said in the April 29 phone call,,,,,,"Many countries have the problem, we have a problem, but what a great job you are doing and I just wanted to call and tell you that."

And that was back when Duterte was just murdering "criminals" -- imagine how much his stock has gone up in Trump's eyes now that he's rolling out martial law.

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Thu May 25, 2017 7:51 am

Max Peck wrote:[
And that was back when Duterte was just murdering "criminals" --

Since due process was not involved, they were not proven to be "criminals." Under our law, he would simply be a mass-murderer for killing thousands of innocents.

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Thu May 25, 2017 8:25 am

Jeff V wrote:
Max Peck wrote:[
And that was back when Duterte was just murdering "criminals" --
Since due process was not involved, they were not proven to be "criminals." Under our law, he would simply be a mass-murderer for killing thousands of innocents.

Thus the scare quotes.

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Thu May 25, 2017 9:18 am

Always remember that Trump is a classless piece of shit.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Thu May 25, 2017 9:23 am

malchior wrote:Always remember that Trump is a classless piece of shit.

Dominance.

And he dominates his closest associates most of all because they're the ones most in his power.

I wonder how ironclad that NDA really is.

(Incidentally, is Spicer thought to be one of the leakers of day-to-day WH insanity? Someone in or near his position is, and I would have some respect for Spicer if he were working to get the truth out.)

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Thu May 25, 2017 11:09 am

Courtesy of Buzzfeed, Mar-A-Lago reception manager is apparently helping to coordinate Trump's overseas travel:

Heather Rinkus, the guest reception manager at Trump's "Winter White House," is working with the president's advance and logistics team, while Trump's exclusive club, Mar-a-Lago, closes for the summer. She has an official White House email and government-issued phone, two sources familiar with Rinkus’s trip told BuzzFeed News.

An administration source confirmed to BuzzFeed News on Wednesday that Rinkus was officially listed as an advance associate for the Taormina leg of the trip and had government-issued blackberry and email.

She is married to a twice-convicted felon, Ari Rinkus, who is known to brag about his wife's access to the president as he trawls for investors and pursues government contracts on behalf of a foreign company, BuzzFeed News previously detailed.

This is totally normal.

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Thu May 25, 2017 11:15 am

Good grief. It is like the Bluths with a far less competent second son are running the country.

RunningMn9 · Post by **RunningMn9** » Thu May 25, 2017 11:31 am

malchior wrote:Always remember that Trump is a classless piece of shit.

Like, for real:

tgb · Post by **tgb** » Thu May 25, 2017 11:34 am

malchior wrote:Always remember that Trump is a classless piece of shit.

That's how much he values loyalty. It would be nice if Bullshit Spice could summon up the little bit of self-respect he has left, tell Drumpf to go fuck himself, and walks. But that probably won't happen until after Drumpf releases his taxes.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Thu May 25, 2017 11:37 am

tgb wrote:
malchior wrote:Always remember that Trump is a classless piece of shit.
That's how much he values loyalty. It would be nice if Bullshit Spice could summon up the little bit of self-respect he has left, tell Drumpf to go fuck himself, and walks. But that probably won't happen until after Drumpf releases his taxes.

If I ever had an employer deliberately exclude me like that from something so awesome to me, he'd get back to his desk to find a big steaming pile of resignation sitting there waiting for him.

RunningMn9 wrote:

He assumed they were lining up in order of percentages paid.

What surprised me (and I don't know why anything does) is that he didn't even have a pretext of chatting with the guy after pushing his way past him. Just a "Get the f&$k outta my way"

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Thu May 25, 2017 11:38 am

tgb wrote:
malchior wrote:Always remember that Trump is a classless piece of shit.
That's how much he values loyalty. It would be nice if Bullshit Spice could summon up the little bit of self-respect he has left, tell Drumpf to go fuck himself, and walks. But that probably won't happen until after Drumpf releases his taxes.

It's never too late to resist.

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Thu May 25, 2017 11:40 am

Paingod wrote: If I ever had an employer deliberately exclude me like that from something so awesome to me, he'd get back to his desk to find a big steaming pile of resignation sitting there waiting for him.

Same here. Spicey may be suffering from a severe case of Stockholm Syndrome.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Thu May 25, 2017 2:15 pm

Serious question. I keep seeing Melenia photographed in what appears to be Widow's attire. Is there an actual meaning going on for which I am unaware? It's really weird to me and I can't figure out how stupid I am for it being all I can see.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Thu May 25, 2017 2:18 pm

LordMortis wrote:Serious question. I keep seeing Melenia photographed in what appears to be Widow's attire. Is there an actual meaning going on for which I am unaware? It's really weird to me and I can't figure out how stupid I am for it being all I can see.

For some reason, Vatican protocol is that women meeting the Pope wear long-sleeved black dresses and make some gesture at a veil.

You can find pictures of all U.S. First Ladies wearing the same.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Thu May 25, 2017 2:24 pm

Holman wrote:
LordMortis wrote:Serious question. I keep seeing Melenia photographed in what appears to be Widow's attire. Is there an actual meaning going on for which I am unaware? It's really weird to me and I can't figure out how stupid I am for it being all I can see.
For some reason, Vatican protocol is that women meeting the pope wear long-sleeved black dresses and make some gesture at a veil. (It might be more of a conservative Italian than a strictly Catholic thing.)

You can find pictures of all U.S. First Ladies wearing the same when they meet the Pope.

So it's a catholic thing? Or a pope Catholic thing? I've never heard of it. Do we know why and why is should be the same as what we traditionally think of as widows attire?

....

https://www.google.com/search?q=women+m ... 63&bih=706

Well, it's not a universal thing but it's definitely a thing.

No explanation of why. It just is?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mel ... 8df2a08d40

I'm so on the outside.

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Thu May 25, 2017 2:30 pm

LordMortis wrote:So it's a catholic thing? Or a pope Catholic thing? I've never heard of it. Do we know why and why is should be the same as what we traditionally think of as widows attire?

The Washington Post explained it.

Foreign dignitaries typically follow a dress code when visiting the Vatican, although that dress code started to relax under Pope Benedict XVI, said Rocco Palmo, editor of Whispers in the Loggia, a site on church news and politics. Men typically wear a black suit, white shirt and black tie. Only Catholic queens and the princess of Monaco can wear white in the presence of the pope, Palmo said. Women tend to wear a veil as a kind of throwback to Catholic women who wore them in church before Vatican II in the 1960s.

“The last place the White House would want to snub is the Vatican,” Palmo said. “Presidents who win the white Catholic vote win the White House. If she hadn’t worn a veil, people would’ve been reading into it.”

In Saudi Arabia, Muslim women are said to be required to wear a headscarf, but foreigners aren’t required to adhere to the same dress code. Some prominent women have worn headscarfs for official visits to Saudi Arabia, but it isn’t necessarily considered an insult to the country’s leaders to not wear one. Like Trump, former first ladies Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush also visited the country without wearing a headscarf.

“I think people are reading into it and misinterpreting it,” said Jane Hampton Cook, a presidential and first lady historian. “The pope is the head of a church. The king of Saudi Arabia is the head of state. There is a difference between seeing a religious leader vs. showing respect to a king who’s the head of state.”

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Thu May 25, 2017 2:39 pm

Yeah, I was going to post that it's more a part of diplomatic tradition than something based in theology. It applies during formal, ceremonial meetings. (Catholic women visiting the Vatican as tourists don't do it, for example, even if they hope to see the Pope.)

There are pictures of Nancy Reagan wearing black and a veil to receive the Pope at the White House, but then other pics where she is with him in her normal style of suit. She doesn't have to wear black just to be in the room with him.

gilraen · Post by **gilraen** » Thu May 25, 2017 5:04 pm

Trump's Muslim ban loses in court (again)

A federal appeals court upheld Thursday a ruling blocking President Donald Trump's travel ban against six Muslim-majority countries.

The 10-3 ruling from the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals upholds a lower court's decision to halt core portions of the executive order indefinitely.

Defiant · Post by **Defiant** » Fri May 26, 2017 4:34 pm

A fellow Orange American criticizes Trump:

Former House Speaker John Boehner says that aside from international affairs and foreign policy, President Donald Trump’s time in office has so far been a “complete disaster.”

“Everything else he’s done (in office) has been a complete disaster,” the Ohio Republican said, according to the publication. “He’s still learning how to be president.”

link

Ralph-Wiggum · Post by **Ralph-Wiggum** » Fri May 26, 2017 5:05 pm

How have his foreign affairs not been a complete disaster also? His main foreign policy so far has seemingly been to praise dictators and strongmen and leak classified info from our allies.

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Fri May 26, 2017 5:15 pm

Ralph-Wiggum wrote:How have his foreign affairs not been a complete disaster also? His main foreign policy so far has seemingly been to praise dictators and strongmen and leak classified info from our allies.

Depends how each article paraphrases him. Here's CNN:

Former House Speaker John Boehner gave President Donald Trump's young presidency low marks at an event Wednesday, saying that other than getting the House to pass a health care bill, "everything else he's done has been a complete disaster."

RunningMn9 · Post by **RunningMn9** » Fri May 26, 2017 6:21 pm

Ralph-Wiggum wrote:How have his foreign affairs not been a complete disaster also? His main foreign policy so far has seemingly been to praise dictators and strongmen and leak classified info from our allies.

Seriously, WTF?

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Fri May 26, 2017 6:35 pm

RunningMn9 wrote:
Ralph-Wiggum wrote:How have his foreign affairs not been a complete disaster also? His main foreign policy so far has seemingly been to praise dictators and strongmen and leak classified info from our allies.
Seriously, WTF?

We haven't invaded anybody and nobody's used nukes yet. That's called winning.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Fri May 26, 2017 6:49 pm

Boehner's not going to comment too far on foreign policy. Everything he says is really a dig at Paul Ryan anyway.

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Fri May 26, 2017 7:17 pm

I haven't seen an exact quote as to what Boehner said about Trump's foreign policy, but a couple of articles have implied that he was referring to the fight against ISIS. Which is ironic, given that Trump is pretty much just signing off on the plan that Obama's team handed off, at least in Syria (and he hasn't really done anything to shake things up in Iraq).

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Fri May 26, 2017 9:58 pm

Big changes allegedly coming, but this one is my favorite:

One major change under consideration would see the president’s social media posts vetted by a team of lawyers, who would decide if any needed to be adjusted or curtailed. The idea, said one of Mr. Trump’s advisers, is to create a system so that tweets “don’t go from the president’s mind out to the universe.”

Some of Mr. Trump’s tweets—from hinting that he may have taped conversations with Mr. Comey to suggesting without any evidence that former President Barack Obama wire-tapped Trump Tower—have opened him to criticism and at times confounded his communications team.

As pointed out in the article, there's zero percent chance of him agreeing to have anyone filter or approve what he wants to say on Twitter. Zero. The idea that it's even being suggested is hilarious, doubly so that it's being floated now - that ship has sailed.

Defiant · Post by **Defiant** » Fri May 26, 2017 10:15 pm

I think he could agree. He might even keep to it for like... a week?