The Former Trump Presidency Thread

[YellowKing]

Every time we talk about her, he literally uses the phrase "I just don't understand how..." or "How can someone..." over and over

It's the equivalent of saying, "I don't understand how someone can have cancer," or "I don't understand how somebody's body can't produce enough insulin." Those statements sound absurd when referring to physical disease, but for some reason we look at mental illness as some imaginary thing that the person has the capability to turn off if they really wanted to.

[Isgrimnur]

MarketWatch

As the nation marks the 19th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, a new report accuses the Trump administration of siphoning almost $4 million away from a fund supporting the 9/11 first responders.

The Treasury Department began withholding parts of payments intended to cover medical services for firefighters, paramedics and emergency medical technicians suffering 9/11-related illnesses, according to documents obtained by the New York Daily News. These first responders who inhaled smoke and dust at Ground Zero in the aftermath of the terrorist attack, which killed almost 3,000 Americans, have suffered illnesses including cancers and systemic autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, in the almost two decades since.

The National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety (NIOHS) oversees the FDNY World Trade Center Health Program. The Daily News reports that the Treasury started keeping some of the money earmarked for this program — to the tune of about half a million dollars each year in 2016 and 2017, and $630,000 each year in 2018 and 2019. And the Treasury has nearly tripled these extractions this year, withholding $1.447 million through late August, according to Dr. David Prezant, the program director.

[Isgrimnur]

CNN

One of the four leading prosecutors chosen to be on President Donald Trump's law enforcement commission resigned last week after expressing "serious" concerns that the intention of the commission was not to bridge the gap between communities of color and law enforcement.

Ramsey County, Minnesota, District Attorney John Choi submitted his letter of resignation on September 3 to Attorney General William Barr after his concerns about the work of the Presidential Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice had not been not addressed since May.

Choi, a Democrat, said in his resignation letter that "it is now patently obvious ... that this process had no intention of engaging in a thoughtful and open analysis, but was intent on providing cover for a predetermined agenda that ignores the lessons of the past, furthering failed tough-on-crime policies that led to our current mass incarceration crisis and fueling divisions between our communities and our police officers."

[pr0ner]

[Octavious]

He could rape someone on camera and they wouldn't care. So shrug.

[Scraper]

He could rape someone on camera and they wouldn't care. So shrug.

This.

[LordMortis]

He could rape someone on camera and they wouldn't care. So shrug.

Wouldn't care or fall in to one of two categories? Make excuses or cheer him on.

[Paingod]

He could rape someone on camera and they wouldn't care. So shrug.

Wouldn't care or fall in to one of two categories? Make excuses or cheer him on.

And when it was all over, they'd scream that the Democrats were responsible and didn't stop it.

[wonderpug]

He could rape someone on camera and they wouldn't care. So shrug.

Wouldn't care or fall in to one of two categories? Make excuses or cheer him on.

And when it was all over, they'd scream that the Democrats were responsible and didn't stop it.

But her emails!

[Holman]

Trump says he will sign executive order on "patriotic education" in rebuke of 1619 project.

President Trump said he would sign an executive order on Thursday to "promote patriotic education" through an effort called the 1776 Commission, while denouncing a New York Times' project that investigated the impacts of racial injustice for Black Americans.

The big picture: The 1619 project dug into the personal histories of Black Americans in the U.S. who have faced present-day systematic inequality in housing and farming, as well as how the legacy of slavery altered health care access for Black Americans and fueled the country's early economy.

What he's saying: "The left has warped, distorted and defiled the American story with deceptions, falsehoods, and lies. There is no better example than the New York Times' totally discredited 1619 Project," Trump said on Thursday.

"This project rewrites American history to teach our children that we were founded on the principle of oppression, not freedom. Nothing could be further from the truth. America's founding set in motion the unstoppable chain of events that abolished slavery, secured civil rights, defeated Communism and fascism and built the most fair, equal, and prosperous nation in human history."

To call this a dog whistle would be an insult to dogs. This is sheer racist pandering and white supremacy.

Matt Yglesias offers some useful reminders about some contents of the 1619 project here:

[Holman]

Incidentally, you can grab the 1619 Project here to see if it's the bomb-throwing anti-American pack of lies Trump says it is.

(And here's the accompanying curricular material, which presumably hates America even more, if that's possible.)

[Isgrimnur]

[Holman]

Timely response to [checks notes]... the hurricane three years ago.

[Holman]

As usual, the whole @atrupar thread is worth reading.

[Holman]

And here's President Freedom celebrating a journalist getting shot by police:

[malchior]

Today's indignity was National Security Advisor to Pence claiming at the press podium that he fired former aide to Pence Olivia Troye and walked her out of the WH. He claimed this was because her performance dropped on the coronavirus taskforce. They are painting her as disgruntled. This portrayal of her performance is of course *not tied* to Troye being quoted as confirming some aspects of Trump's poor response to coronavirus in recent stories like this one at WaPo.

Troye has a slightly different account about her "firing"

[LawBeefaroni]

Assuming that taxpayers pay for those challenge coins?

[malchior]

Assuming that taxpayers pay for those challenge coins?

Most likely. FWIW they aren't all that expensive. One of my client's gave me one. We got to talking about ordering them and it cost about $600 for a hundred of them.

[Jaymann]

It should read, "Scapegoat to the President."

[El Guapo]

Kellogg lying for the president here is pretty alarming. Was he the general who marched with Trump for his tear gas photo op?

[LawBeefaroni]

Assuming that taxpayers pay for those challenge coins?

Most likely. FWIW they aren't all that expensive. One of my client's gave me one. We got to talking about ordering them and it cost about $600 for a hundred of them.

Not the cost so much as the hollow ego stroking. A business card and a generic branch or office coin works just fine.

[malchior]

Kellogg lying for the president here is pretty alarming. Was he the general who marched with Trump for his tear gas photo op?

No that was Milley. Actually he *was* there repping Pence. Kellog also was on the Ukraine phone call and said that he heard nothing alarming. His credibility was already tarnished. If she can produce proof it is tattered.

[LordMortis]

How do you prove you weren't escorted out? What do they say? Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence? Proving a negative, etc... That would be on Kellogg to show she was escorted out, and I'd be surprised if he lifts a finger to provide that.

[Holman]

Kellogg lying for the president here is pretty alarming. Was he the general who marched with Trump for his tear gas photo op?

That was Mark Milley, who has since said he regrets going along.

[Max Peck]

Kellogg lying for the president here is pretty alarming. Was he the general who marched with Trump for his tear gas photo op?

Kellogg is a retired general, not active service. I wouldn't say that his lying for Trump is any more alarming than it is for any other political operative.

[malchior]

How do you prove you weren't escorted out? What do they say? Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence? Proving a negative, etc... That would be on Kellogg to show she was escorted out, and I'd be surprised if he lifts a finger to provide that.

I don't think you can prove that but she can prove she resigned (SF50 form comes to mind as potential proof). That'd cut the legs right out from under the story.

Edit: Come.On. I mean I guess they could have fired her after she resigned but really?!?

[Isgrimnur]

Yeah, no one ever fluffs up their resignation letter.

[malchior]

Yeah, no one ever fluffs up their resignation letter.

It is also addressed to the taskforce -- *not to Trump*.

We know everyone at the top in this WH seems to lie but the way they leave is always the same. If you leave and don't show disloyalty to Trump, you leave on good terms. If you leave and then tell your potentially true experience and are perceived as disloyal, you were "fired" and disgruntled.

[Alefroth]

Why is McEnany calling her disgruntled, yet presenting a letter that shows anything but?

[Isgrimnur]

CNBC

A Canadian woman criminally charged with mailing President Donald Trump the deadly poison ricin called him “The Ugly Tyrant Clown” in a letter containing the poison, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Tuesday.

The woman, Pascale Cecile Veronique Ferrier, was ordered held without bail after appearing Tuesday in federal court in Buffalo, New York, for the first time in the case on a charge of threatening the president of the United States.

Ferrier, 54, was apprehended Sunday at the U.S. border in Buffalo, where she told American authorities that she was wanted by the FBI for sending “the ricin letters” to Trump and other people, the complaint said.

Ferrier, who lives in the city of Laval, just north of Montreal, also was allegedly carrying a loaded firearm and a knife when she was arrested.
...
Ferrier also allegedly sent six other letters containing a powdery substance to people who work in Texas jails and detention centers where she had been incarcerated year, after being arrested in March 2019 on a weapons possession charge in Mission, Texas, according to the complaint.

[Unagi]

I wish her well.

[Holman]

I haven't yet figured out whether there's an actual order to go with this racist bloviation, but it appears to say that he's forbidding government contracts to companies that include sensitivity issues in their human resources suite.

I'm pretty sure this will include everyone from Lockheed to General Electric, as well as hundreds of universities.

So the government is down to Hobby Lobby and MyPillow, I guess.

[Jaymann]

I haven't yet figured out whether there's an actual order to go with this racist bloviation, but it appears to say that he's forbidding government contracts to companies that include sensitivity issues in their human resources suite.

I'm pretty sure this will include everyone from Lockheed to General Electric, as well as hundreds of universities.

So the government is down to Hobby Lobby and MyPillow, I guess.

With catering provided by Chick-fil-A.

[LordMortis]

I'm trying really hard to understand that tweet. I got nuthin'. Covfefe?

[Holman]

I'm trying really hard to understand that tweet. I got nuthin'. Covfefe?

Some days back he banned the inclusion of "criticial race theory" (academic jargon for the analysis of systemic racism in American culture and institutions) as part of any human-resources training or other racial awareness consciousness in government. The backstory is that "critical race theory" was the boogeyman of a particular right-wing crusader at a particular right-wing think-tank whose OUTRAGE had been picked up and amplified by Fox pundits.

It was all very vague, and it quickly morphed into a general sense that anti-racist, pro-LGBT, and other sensitivity trainings were verboten in the Trump government.

Now he has decided to extend this supposed ban to corporations and other entities doing business with the government. Given the lawsuits that would erupt in every entity large enough to have an HR department, this seems like an unrealistic demand.

In short, Trump is yelling at clouds that PC inclusivity is bad and will not be tolerated.

The creepiest part is his "Americans should be taught to take PRIDE in our Great Country, and if you don’t, there’s nothing in it for you!" The point there, we must suppose, is that racism, sexism, and homophobia are part of our Great Country and should not be criticized.

[Skinypupy]

I've already lost about half of this year's scheduled diversity and inclusion training programs after his last vague proclamation about D&I training. This could potentially spook any of my remaining clients and kill the rest of it.

I despise this man with every fiber of my fucking being.

[malchior]

I'm trying really hard to understand that tweet. I got nuthin'. Covfefe?

Some days back he banned the inclusion of "criticial race theory" (academic jargon for the analysis of systemic racism in American culture and institutions) as part of any human-resources training or other racial awareness consciousness in government. The backstory is that "critical race theory" was the boogeyman of a particular right-wing crusader at a particular right-wing think-tank whose OUTRAGE had been picked up and amplified by Fox pundits.

It was all very vague, and it quickly morphed into a general sense that anti-racist, pro-LGBT, and other sensitivity trainings were verboten in the Trump government.

Now he has decided to extend this supposed ban to corporations and other entities doing business with the government. Given the lawsuits that would erupt in every entity large enough to have an HR department, this seems like an unrealistic demand.

In short, Trump is yelling at clouds that PC inclusivity is bad and will not be tolerated.

The creepiest part is his "Americans should be taught to take PRIDE in our Great Country, and if you don’t, there’s nothing in it for you!" The point there, we must suppose, is that racism, sexism, and homophobia are part of our Great Country and should not be criticized.

Creepy is the right term. It has a very 'Blood and Soil' -- true Americans won't listen to this lib clap trap -- vibe to it.

[LawBeefaroni]

How do you prove you weren't escorted out? What do they say? Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence? Proving a negative, etc... That would be on Kellogg to show she was escorted out, and I'd be surprised if he lifts a finger to provide that.

I don't think you can prove that but she can prove she resigned (SF50 form comes to mind as potential proof). That'd cut the legs right out from under the story.

Edit: Come.On. I mean I guess they could have fired her after she resigned but really?!?

former detailee who typically sat in the overflow room of task force

This is how you identify small, petty people. They say shit like this.

[Daehawk]

This guy sounds like Hitler. Wanting no one but him making all decisions and getting all info.

White House liaisons being removed from their jobs and replaced

White House chief of staff Mark Meadows emailed government agencies informing them that many of the White House liaisons are being removed from their roles in anticipation of President Donald Trump winning a second term, CNN has learned.
The liaisons will be replaced with officials who will report directly to the White House instead of the agencies to which they're assigned.
Previously the liaisons worked in conjunction with the White House's Office of Presidential Personnel and the agencies they served, while ultimately reporting to the agencies' heads. With this change, the liaisons will instead report directly to the White House. Liaisons can be responsible for assisting the White House in placing political appointees at agencies.
While the email, first reported by Axios, was sent by Meadows, the changes will be implemented by the head of the personnel office, Johnny McEntee.

Since returning to the White House after being fired for issues related to his security clearance, McEntee has been on what's internally referred to as a "hunt" for staffers he believes are disloyal to the President. In February, McEntee told agency officials at a meeting to expect staffing changes and movement across the government, according to people familiar with the meeting.

[Paingod]

The simple damage Trump has done to the working class in the government is astounding. I'd love to see turnover statistics between Trump's administration and others for roles that have nothing to do directly with him, but are affected by his choices.