The Former Trump Presidency Thread

[Jaymann]

President Trump has not publicly commented on Gen Hyten's remarks.

Here is Trump's tweeted response:

Generals are totally overrated! He is just jealous of my nuclear football! I make the best unlawful decisions! The best! Sad!

[Skinypupy]

Now that the three basketball players are out of China and saved from years in jail, LaVar Ball, the father of LiAngelo, is unaccepting of what I did for his son and that shoplifting is no big deal. I should have left them in jail!

Christ, what an asshole (equally applicable for both Trump and Ball).

[tjg_marantz]

Now that the three basketball players are out of China and saved from years in jail, LaVar Ball, the father of LiAngelo, is unaccepting of what I did for his son and that shoplifting is no big deal. I should have left them in jail!

Christ, what an asshole (equally applicable for both Trump and Ball).

There is a small difference between the two of them. Equating them is wrong.

[Skinypupy]

There is a small difference between the two of them. Equating them is wrong.

There's lots of other reasons why Ball is a colossal douche canoe, none of which have anything to do with this incident.

[malchior]

The unpresident. How refreshing.

[tjg_marantz]

I like Bill Krystol's reply.

Trump: If Americans won't express fulsome gratitude to me personally, I don't see why I should bother doing what a president should do. Trump's failure to distinguish between himself and the office he holds is almost the definition of not understanding a constitutional republic. https://t.co/oabN54cUOw

[tjg_marantz]

Manchild with the follow up:

[tjg_marantz]

And:

[Rip]

Caught "on mic" saying bad things about Trump?

Is there no limit to what people can get caught saying on a mic?

[Kraken]

Manchild with the follow up:

[Rip]

When he say on "mike" does he mean like this?

[Defiant]

[tjg_marantz]

Damn uppity blacks at it again. Better get to Twitter.



Edit: because of course.

[LawBeefaroni]

OK, so this is a thing that happened...

US nuclear chief to resist 'illegal' presidential strike order

The top nuclear commander in the US says he would resist any "illegal" presidential order to launch a strike.

Air Force Gen John Hyten, said as head of the US Strategic Command he provided advice to a president and expected that a legal alternative would be found.

His comments come just days after US senators discussed a president's authority to launch a nuclear attack.

Some of them expressed concern that President Donald Trump might irresponsibly order such a strike.

Others though said a president must have the authority to act without meddling from lawyers. It was the first such hearing in more than 40 years.

In August, Mr Trump vowed to unleash "fire and fury like the world has never seen" on North Korea if it continued to expand its atomic weapons programme and threaten America.

Last month, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's Republican chairman, Senator Bob Corker, accused the president of setting the US "on a path to World War Three".

Speaking at the Halifax International Security Forum in Canada, Gen Hyten said: "We think about these things a lot. When you have this responsibility, how do you not think about it?"

"I provide advice to the president, he will tell me what to do," he said.

"And if it's illegal, guess what's going to happen? I'm going to say: 'Mr President, that's illegal.' And guess what he's going to do? He's going to say, 'What would be legal?' And we'll come up with options, of a mix of capabilities to respond to whatever the situation is, and that's the way it works.

"It's not that complicated," Gen Hyten added.

He also added: "If you execute an unlawful order, you will go to jail. You could go to jail for the rest of your life."

President Trump has not publicly commented on Gen Hyten's remarks.

Putin is laughing his ass off.

[$iljanus]

OK, so this is a thing that happened...

US nuclear chief to resist 'illegal' presidential strike order

The top nuclear commander in the US says he would resist any "illegal" presidential order to launch a strike.

Air Force Gen John Hyten, said as head of the US Strategic Command he provided advice to a president and expected that a legal alternative would be found.

His comments come just days after US senators discussed a president's authority to launch a nuclear attack.

Some of them expressed concern that President Donald Trump might irresponsibly order such a strike.

Others though said a president must have the authority to act without meddling from lawyers. It was the first such hearing in more than 40 years.

In August, Mr Trump vowed to unleash "fire and fury like the world has never seen" on North Korea if it continued to expand its atomic weapons programme and threaten America.

Last month, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's Republican chairman, Senator Bob Corker, accused the president of setting the US "on a path to World War Three".

Speaking at the Halifax International Security Forum in Canada, Gen Hyten said: "We think about these things a lot. When you have this responsibility, how do you not think about it?"

"I provide advice to the president, he will tell me what to do," he said.

"And if it's illegal, guess what's going to happen? I'm going to say: 'Mr President, that's illegal.' And guess what he's going to do? He's going to say, 'What would be legal?' And we'll come up with options, of a mix of capabilities to respond to whatever the situation is, and that's the way it works.

"It's not that complicated," Gen Hyten added.

He also added: "If you execute an unlawful order, you will go to jail. You could go to jail for the rest of your life."

President Trump has not publicly commented on Gen Hyten's remarks.

Putin is laughing his ass off.

All is proceeding according to plan.

[Daehawk]

[Max Peck]

Somebody is taking a run at goading Trump into firing McMaster.

National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster mocked President Trump’s intelligence at a private dinner with a powerful tech CEO, according to five sources with knowledge of the conversation.

Over a July dinner with Oracle CEO Safra Catz — who has been mentioned as a candidate for several potential administration jobs — McMaster bluntly trashed his boss, said the sources, four of whom told BuzzFeed News they heard about the exchange directly from Catz. The top national security official dismissed the president variously as an “idiot” and a “dope” with the intelligence of a “kindergartner,” the sources said.

A sixth source who was not familiar with the details of the dinner told BuzzFeed News that McMaster had made similarly derogatory comments about Trump’s intelligence to him in private, including that the president lacked the necessary brainpower to understand the matters before the National Security Council.

Both Oracle and the Trump administration heatedly denied the comments that Catz later recounted.

“Actual participants in the dinner deny that General McMaster made any of the comments attributed to him by anonymous sources. Those false comments represent the diametric opposite of General McMaster's actual views,” said Michael Anton, a spokesman for the National Security Council.

Oracle's top DC operative, who attended the dinner with Catz, also denied that McMaster made the comments his boss later recounted to others. The meeting, Oracle senior VP for government affairs Ken Glueck said, was about China, and “none of the statements attributed to General McMaster were said.” Glueck added that Catz “concurs entirely” with his account of the dinner.

[Paingod]

He also added: "If you execute an unlawful order, you will go to jail. You could go to jail for the rest of your life."
President Trump has not publicly commented on Gen Hyten's remarks.

Putin is laughing his ass off.

All is proceeding according to plan.

I have to say that I'm tickled pink that the future of the world may rest on a matter of simple legality, and the snap determination of that by a couple guys arguing over a briefcase.

[Isgrimnur]

I think you should sell the idea to Seth Rogen for his next film.

[Zarathud]

"If the President does it, then it isn't illegal." - Nixon

It bears repeating that this is Trump's position on ethics.

[Sepiche]

Somebody is taking a run at goading Trump into firing McMaster.

Josh Marshall makes the case it was Ezra Cohen-Watnick

Finally, in early August, McMaster canned Cohen-Watnick.

So where did Cohen-Watnick land after finally getting bounced from the National Security Council? Funny you’d ask! He went to work in the DC office of Oracle.

To be clear, this doesn’t mean the report is not true. I suspect something like it is true. It may be verbatim true. Who knows? But you will not convince me that Cohen-Watnick’s now working in a high level position Oracle’s DC office (which is to say it’s lobbying office) is not directly related to this story coming about. Indeed, I’m surprised the Cohen-Watnick feud and his current employment at Oracle did not come up in the Buzzfeed article.

[tjg_marantz]

There it is.

[Paingod]

Look, we understand that Moore is probably a sex offender and should have spent some time in jail. That still serves our country better than the Commies on the other side, right? Winning is all we care about now.

Look, Roy Moore may have grabbed them by the pussy, but we still have the best people, the best. Democrats, and I know some,
are just not good enough. They don't have the IQ that I have. It's the best, really. Have you seen my landslide electoral numbers? Later today,
I've got some big news about North Korea. Stay tuned, and tuned with Fox news, right? Other news is fake news, and CNN is the worst. Failing.

[Isgrimnur]

Politico

In remarks at the ceremony, President Donald Trump delighted in poking some fun at his predecessor — as well as himself and his penchant for executive orders — during the annual pardoning of the National Thanksgiving Turkey.

Trump joked that he had conferred with the White House counsel on whether he could overturn former President Barack Obama’s turkey pardons — including those for last year’s birds, Tater and Tot — much as he has for other executive actions.

However, the White House’s lawyers found that the prior pardons could “not be, under any circumstances, revoked,” Trump said. “So we're not going to revoke them. So, Tater and Tot, you can rest easy.”

The president gave the official pardon to Drumstick, a turkey raised in Minnesota, sparing him the Thanksgiving dinner table. Drumstick was chosen for the honor over the alternate, Wishbone, by 60 percent of respondents in an online White House poll. Both birds, however, will avoid the carving knife: They will be spend the rest of their days at the turkey sanctuary Gobbler’s Rest at Virginia Tech University.
...
Presidents have been presented with a turkey from the National Turkey Federation since 1947, when the first bird was given to President Harry Truman, although at the time, those birds ended up on the dinner table. President George H.W. Bush started the tradition of granting a pardon in 1989.

[El Guapo]

I'll bet that Trump has been talking with his counsel about whether pardons can be later overturned.

[Jaymann]

Politico

In remarks at the ceremony, President Donald Trump delighted in poking some fun at his predecessor — as well as himself and his penchant for executive orders — during the annual pardoning of the National Thanksgiving Turkey.

Trump joked that he had conferred with the White House counsel on whether he could overturn former President Barack Obama’s turkey pardons — including those for last year’s birds, Tater and Tot — much as he has for other executive actions.

However, the White House’s lawyers found that the prior pardons could “not be, under any circumstances, revoked,” Trump said. “So we're not going to revoke them. So, Tater and Tot, you can rest easy.”

The president gave the official pardon to Drumstick, a turkey raised in Minnesota, sparing him the Thanksgiving dinner table. Drumstick was chosen for the honor over the alternate, Wishbone, by 60 percent of respondents in an online White House poll. Both birds, however, will avoid the carving knife: They will be spend the rest of their days at the turkey sanctuary Gobbler’s Rest at Virginia Tech University.
...
Presidents have been presented with a turkey from the National Turkey Federation since 1947, when the first bird was given to President Harry Truman, although at the time, those birds ended up on the dinner table. President George H.W. Bush started the tradition of granting a pardon in 1989.

Did GHWB fondle the turkey before pardoning it?

[Kraken]

There's a turkey sanctuary?

[Holman]

Trump says of Jones, "I've looked at his record. It's terrible on crime. It's terrible on the border. It's terrible on the military."

Soft on crime? Jones is a successful career prosecutor.

And how does he have a "record" on the border or the military? That's the kind of thing you say with reference to a legislator's votes.

--

But of course the big news is his endorsement of Moore, surprising no one despite his obvious reluctance.

In the press meet-up, he was also unexpectedly shy of commenting about Franken or Conyers when asked. It's like some part of his lizard brain is aware that this whole topic is a threat to him and needs to go away.

[gbasden]

You seem to be under the mistaken impression that facts mean anything to Trump. Worrying about whether something is "true" or "false" or is "crazy" is so 2016.

[tgb]

"GOP - Group of Pedophiles"

Heh.

[El Guapo]

Trump says of Jones, "I've looked at his record. It's terrible on crime. It's terrible on the border. It's terrible on the military. He will be insufficiently cruel to brown people."

That's what he's saying. Which, understood that way, is accurate.

[tjg_marantz]

It's about meeee!

[El Guapo]

It's about meeee!

He's having cognitive dissonance between "The women are saying something that is bad for me" vs. "The women voted for and approved of me".

[Skinypupy]

None of this matters. The "true believers" are all 100% convinced that the accusations against Moore are fake news and have no merit. I mean, President Trump even came right out and said so, and we know he always speaks the truth! Therefore, Moore is just continuing to do the godly work he was sent here to. This whole issue is just another way that Jesus is testing the faith of the righteous.

I would guess that when someone starts with that paradigm, they're actually more likely to vote for Moore because of all the allegations, as it's their Christian obligation to fight against persecution.

The interesting part will be in seeing how much of Alabama starts from there.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

It’s now come out that Moore stayed in an interview a few months back that he first noticed his wife when she was 15 and he was in his 30s. Not sure what more needs to come out to prove this guy was into teenagers.

[Max Peck]

Politico

In remarks at the ceremony, President Donald Trump delighted in poking some fun at his predecessor — as well as himself and his penchant for executive orders — during the annual pardoning of the National Thanksgiving Turkey.

Trump joked that he had conferred with the White House counsel on whether he could overturn former President Barack Obama’s turkey pardons — including those for last year’s birds, Tater and Tot — much as he has for other executive actions.

However, the White House’s lawyers found that the prior pardons could “not be, under any circumstances, revoked,” Trump said. “So we're not going to revoke them. So, Tater and Tot, you can rest easy.”

The president gave the official pardon to Drumstick, a turkey raised in Minnesota, sparing him the Thanksgiving dinner table. Drumstick was chosen for the honor over the alternate, Wishbone, by 60 percent of respondents in an online White House poll. Both birds, however, will avoid the carving knife: They will be spend the rest of their days at the turkey sanctuary Gobbler’s Rest at Virginia Tech University.
...
Presidents have been presented with a turkey from the National Turkey Federation since 1947, when the first bird was given to President Harry Truman, although at the time, those birds ended up on the dinner table. President George H.W. Bush started the tradition of granting a pardon in 1989.

#WhiteTurkeyLivesMatter

[GreenGoo]

I'll bet that Trump has been talking with his counsel about whether pardons can be later overturned.

[GreenGoo]

It’s now come out that Moore stayed in an interview a few months back that he first noticed his wife when she was 15 and he was in his 30s. Not sure what more needs to come out to prove this guy was into teenagers.

He made an honest woman out of her. God's work.

What's amazing is that this behavior isn't going to lose him the election, while the rest of the United States is absolutely BLOWING UP over sexual misbehaviour, both large and small.

Al Franken might lose his position for stealing a kiss and posing for a "funny" grope picture, but Moore is going to take his place despite preying on teenagers and sexual assault of minors.

Bill Clinton is under fire again, but Moore is electable? All I can say is this explains why MSD always felt like he was an absolute alien to me. If Hollywood is riddled with sexual predators, wtf is Alabama when they turn a blind eye to their own predators? Worse, they venerate them.

What has become of God's word? Because this is not it.

[Zaxxon]

I mean, it didn't impact the election of our President, so...

[Zarathud]

This behavior is considered by many christian fundamentalists as the pursuit of female christian purity and excusable "typical" male behavior.

It's a fundamental rift in values where the "moral majority" continues to claim the high ground regardless of the depths of their depravity. It's wrong, but that won't stop them.