The Former Trump Presidency Thread

[YellowKing]

If this is what criticism catches the eye, it feels like we're in for long road to and through 2020.

Obama wore a tan suit.

[geezer]

I guess we should all be thankful he didn't just trot out fried chicken and watermelon.

That's 'cuz Trump ordered from "Burger King," not "Steve King."

[LawBeefaroni]

I guess we should all be thankful he didn't just trot out fried chicken and watermelon.

That's 'cuz Trump ordered from "Burger King," not "Steve King."

*Dinner Bell ringing*
"What did Steve say? 'The runningback is near'? "

[YellowKing]

That's 'cuz Trump ordered from "Burger King," not "Steve King."

[Remus West]

19-22 year olds playing at that level are just as likely to be on a very strict diet. Hell, the girls I coach that are 15 or 16 watch what they eat and avoid fast food as much as possible and their athletic future doesn't involve a possible million dollar pay day.

I don't doubt it. I also don't doubt that a portion of the team (and likely most of the staff) like their strict diet. I still think the gesture is nice and memorable in isolation and appeals to youth more than a fancy dinner does right up until (I paid).

If this is what criticism catches the eye, it feels like we're in for long road to and through 2020. *shrug*

Don't get me wrong, on the list of things wrong with this administration this is a tiny line on the last page of War and Peace. Its just embarassing to have them fed fast food in the wrappers. If he wanted to make it burgers then feed them burgers but fast food is just ugh.

[raydude]

19-22 year olds playing at that level are just as likely to be on a very strict diet. Hell, the girls I coach that are 15 or 16 watch what they eat and avoid fast food as much as possible and their athletic future doesn't involve a possible million dollar pay day.

I don't doubt it. I also don't doubt that a portion of the team (and likely most of the staff) like their strict diet. I still think the gesture is nice and memorable in isolation and appeals to youth more than a fancy dinner does right up until (I paid).

If this is what criticism catches the eye, it feels like we're in for long road to and through 2020. *shrug*

Sure, maybe some on the team liked it. Would they still like the gesture as much when someone tells them Trump owns a steak and a sushi restaurant not a few blocks from the White House and they could have had prime rib and sushi?

[LawBeefaroni]

19-22 year olds playing at that level are just as likely to be on a very strict diet. Hell, the girls I coach that are 15 or 16 watch what they eat and avoid fast food as much as possible and their athletic future doesn't involve a possible million dollar pay day.

I don't doubt it. I also don't doubt that a portion of the team (and likely most of the staff) like their strict diet. I still think the gesture is nice and memorable in isolation and appeals to youth more than a fancy dinner does right up until (I paid).

If this is what criticism catches the eye, it feels like we're in for long road to and through 2020. *shrug*

Don't get me wrong, on the list of things wrong with this administration this is a tiny line on the last page of War and Peace. Its just embarassing to have them fed fast food in the wrappers. If he wanted to make it burgers then feed them burgers but fast food is just ugh.

He's a brand guy. Keeping the wrappers on is like wearing an Under Armor t-shirt featooned with the UA logo. Plus like anyone on his staff could unwrap and neatly organize a bunch of burgers.


And yeah, it's just a footnote. But it's one he took half a day to write while the nation is shut down and eating itself.

[Zaxxon]

[LawBeefaroni]

What he's referring to is a deleted tweet from a deleted account that quoted him as saying:

President Trump got all our favorite foods, it was the best meal we ever had. Then we go and see the coastal elite media trashing it for not being organic vegan. We're football players, not bloggers. This was a perfect blue collar party.

Gee, I wonder what PR machine is behind that deleted account?

[GreenGoo]

Sounds like he had a great time.

You know how you know someone is seriously damaged? When they steal something they could have had for free.

How damaged is this administration?

[stessier]

On Colbert, they have a clip of a player saying "I thought it was a joke". Wish they played more of the clip for context. Still, amusing.

[Skinypupy]

Need Trump administration approval for a huge corporate merger? Easy, just stay at a Trump hotel!

Last April, telecom giant T-Mobile announced a megadeal: a $26 billion merger with rival Sprint, which would more than double T-Mobile’s value and give it a huge new chunk of the cellphone market.

But for T-Mobile, one hurdle remained: Its deal needed approval from the Trump administration.

The next day, in Washington, staffers at the Trump International Hotel were handed a list of incoming “VIP Arrivals.” That day’s list included nine of T-Mobile’s top executives — including its chief operating officer, chief technology officer, chief strategy officer, chief financial officer and its outspoken celebrity chief executive, John Legere.

They were scheduled to stay between one and three days. But it was not their last visit.

Instead, T-Mobile executives have returned to President Trump’s hotel repeatedly since then, according to eyewitnesses and hotel documents obtained by The Washington Post.

By mid-June, seven weeks after the announcement of the merger, hotel records indicated that one T-Mobile executive was making his 10th visit to the hotel. Legere appears to have made at least four visits to the Trump hotel, walking the lobby in his T-Mobile gear.

[LawBeefaroni]

"Ok guys, suck it up and smile. We're going back to the Trump Hotel again. When it gets bad, just think about the compensation bonus on the line with this merger."

[malchior]

Hear that? It is the drumbeat for impeachment starting to become louder.

I'm with Pelosi - impeachment without conviction is pointless. Worse it could make him stronger unifying his party behind him. Something has to happen to crack GOP support first.

[GreenGoo]

President Trump got all our favorite foods, it was the best meal we ever had. Then we go and see the coastal elite media trashing it for not being organic vegan. We're football players, not bloggers. This was a perfect blue collar party.

What football player even thinks about white/blue collar, let alone labels themselves as such?

Even as thieves and liars this administration is terrible.

[Skinypupy]

Hear that? It is the drumbeat for impeachment starting to become louder.

I'm with Pelosi - impeachment without conviction is pointless. Worse it could make him stronger unifying his party behind him. Something has to happen to crack GOP support first.

Why would a story like that in The Atlantic move the needle at all? Everyone with a brain already agrees, and the MAGA's will view it the same as we would a Fox News headline.

[malchior]

Hear that? It is the drumbeat for impeachment starting to become louder.

I'm with Pelosi - impeachment without conviction is pointless. Worse it could make him stronger unifying his party behind him. Something has to happen to crack GOP support first.

Why would a story like that in The Atlantic move the needle at all? Everyone with a brain already agrees, and the MAGA's will view it the same as we would a Fox News headline.

The Atlantic is the magazine of the 'Very Serious People' so it is an indicator that at the very least they are trying to influence 'thought leaders'. That is somewhat significant. Basically saying enough is enough. I think the politics are premature but they often act as a leading indicator so maybe the timing is not 100% right. However that is likely because they are acting to push an agenda that they probably expect will come to a head later.

[milo]

Hear that? It is the drumbeat for impeachment starting to become louder.

I'm with Pelosi - impeachment without conviction is pointless. Worse it could make him stronger unifying his party behind him. Something has to happen to crack GOP support first.

The linked essay addresses this point and lists a number of benefits to the impeachment process whether or not it results in conviction. Can you explain why you disagree? Given that none of the three impeachment cases (Johnson, Nixon, Clinton) in our history have resulted in presidential removal by the senate, do you think those impeachments were equally pointless?

[Kraken]

I don't agree that the House should act before Mueller reports, even though Trump is clearly unfit, is a danger to our country, and has openly committed impeachable offenses. There's just too much information still working through the pipeline. If Mueller's findings are as damning as we all expect, then don't waste a day; the narrative is clear and all the legal legwork has been done. But if he unexpectedly finds that Trump did not collude with the Russians and did not try to obstruct the investigation (hah!), then that's going to require a different story. Go ahead and hold hearings now. Build your alternate case. Get ready. But don't jump the gun.

I haven't read the Atlantic story yet. Maybe it will convince me otherwise.

(edit) Well, he does make a persuasive argument that the process of impeachment is at least as important as its ultimate outcome. If it would constrain Trump's anti-democratic actions, then it's hard to argue against doing it.

[malchior]

Hear that? It is the drumbeat for impeachment starting to become louder.

I'm with Pelosi - impeachment without conviction is pointless. Worse it could make him stronger unifying his party behind him. Something has to happen to crack GOP support first.

The linked essay addresses this point and lists a number of benefits to the impeachment process whether or not it results in conviction. Can you explain why you disagree? Given that none of the three impeachment cases (Johnson, Nixon, Clinton) in our history have resulted in presidential removal by the senate, do you think those impeachments were equally pointless?

They aren't at all the same but Clinton is mostly a yes. That was pretty pointless. It also was part of the first wave of the GOP attempting to poison our politics. Anyway, my only concern with Trump is that there is a danger that if impeachment is pursue *too early* it will solidify the base around him and someone might talk him into something dangerous for the nation. His instincts tend that way naturally.

That said, should Trump be impeached and convicted right now? Even before the Buzzfeed story last night which if provable proves the President ordered at least one person to lie to Congress. Probably yes. However, the Republicans are putting power first. Until the price of maintaining that power is too high for them it has to weighed against the risks.

(edit) Well, he does make a persuasive argument that the process of impeachment is at least as important as its ultimate outcome. If it would constrain Trump's anti-democratic actions, then it's hard to argue against doing it.

The risk being it backfires and doesn't constrain him while also cornering him, causing him to attempt to abuse power even further. It is a dangerous balancing act potentially.

[LordMortis]

I don't agree that the House should act before Mueller reports,

In Mueller I trust. I not only see little point in impeaching if it won't stick, I think it's as harmful to the nation as where we are coming from. I have to convince myself there is an endpoint where our nation isn't in locked into a crippling cold or hot civil war.

[Zarathud]

Congress needs to do this right. The evidence is starting to pile up, but there is at best only one shot at impeachment.

The more Trumpster fires burn, the more likely enough Republicans might put country first. If only to save themselves.

[Remus West]

The only way I support impeachment is if they are damned certain conviction comes with it because having the Democrtaic House impeach only to have the Republican Senate find him not guilty merely reaffirms how much the Republicans are willing to protect him (and I'd say they are willing to do nearly anything) and he is thus untouchable while they control the Senate. Give him that proof and our nation may very well end on that day.

[malchior]

The only way I support impeachment is if they are damned certain conviction comes with it because having the Democrtaic House impeach only to have the Republican Senate find him not guilty merely reaffirms how much the Republicans are willing to protect him (and I'd say they are willing to do nearly anything) and he is thus untouchable while they control the Senate. Give him that proof and our nation may very well end on that day.

That is a good point. He is vindictive. If he doesn't feel the danger, it'll just reinforce his belief everyone is out to stop what 'the people want' (read: stop what he wants) and go off the chain.

[Kraken]

Congress needs to do this right. The evidence is starting to pile up, but there is at best only one shot at impeachment.

The more Trumpster fires burn, the more likely enough Republicans might put country first. If only to save themselves.

I'm concerned about time. There are so many crimes here, and so much evidence, that it could take years to draft those articles of impeachment -- and they'd have to retread a lot of ground that Mueller has already trod. It's likely that Trump will be voted out of office before he can be kicked out. Would impeachment proceedings make his reelection less or more likely? Hard to say. Right now, it would feel like pouring gasoline on the dumbster fire.

[Max Peck]

it could take years to draft those articles of impeachment

They can save some time by using a little boilerplate from the articles of impeachment drawn up against Andrew Johnson.

. . . by means whereof the said Andrew Johnson Donald Trump has brought the high office of the President of the United States into contempt, ridicule and disgrace, to the great scandal of all good citizens, whereby said Andrew Johnson Donald Trump, President of the United States, did commit, and was then and there guilty of a high misdemeanor in office.

[Jeff V]

It's not like they'd need to start from scratch, investigating every charge before including it on the articles of impeachment. Presumably, Mueller will provide all of the material needed (or not, making the argument moot). If some of the charges are outright treason, it would be necessary to expedite as quickly as possible.

[Holman]

Chris Christie has penned a Jared Kushner takedown and an attempt to rehabilitate his own brand.

The facts might be true, but the narrative reads like really bad Chris Christie fan fiction.

By this point in the presidential campaign, I’d become a semi-permanent fixture on the 26th floor of Trump Tower. The Secret Service agents didn’t bother me anymore. I didn’t have to check in with Donald’s executive assistant, Rhona Graff, or anyone else. On this particular morning, I walked past the receptionist —“Hello.” I nodded good morning to everyone, and I breezed into the main office.

“Hi, Chris. What’s up today?” Donald said without looking up as I dropped into one of the chairs in front of his desk.

“I’m doing the transition stuff,” I said.

“Oh, come on,” he said with a sigh, finally glancing up at me and scrunching his face a little. “I hate that stuff. It’s bad karma, Chris. You know that.”

I just smiled. “I know, Donald,” I assured him. “But you gotta do it.”

“I know, I know,” he admitted. “Let’s get Corey in here, and let’s finish this up.”

He called to Rhona, who summoned the campaign manager. Half a minute later, Corey Lewandowski walked in. Corey and I had talked about my chairing the transition, and we were on the same page. He handed me a draft of a news release announcing my appointment.

“Is this OK with you, Governor?” Corey asked as he sat in the chair next to mine.

I gave the release a quick glance. “Looks fine to me,” I said. Then Corey handed the paper to Donald, who picked up a black Sharpie, made a couple of minor edits and handed the sheet back to me. “I’m really happy you are doing this for me,” he said. “And I think it’s going to be good for you, too.”

“Yeah,” I answered cheerfully. “I think it will be good for both of us.”

The meeting was over. Our business was finished. Or so I thought. Actually, the meeting had hardly begun.

[hepcat]

If someone doesn’t pull a pistol and then call someone a dame in chapter 2 I’ll be disappointed.

[Kraken]

"She had gams that started at her ankles and rose until they made an ass of themselves."

Spoiler:

IIRC, that's from one of Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat books.

[malchior]

I wonder if this was a shame based visit...



Yep. Checks out.

[Skinypupy]

I’m guessing someone told him he had to, and he was pissed.

[Holman]

Nobody on either side wants an MLK Day speech from Donald Trump.

[Skinypupy]

Trump Administration has changed the definition of "domestic violence" to no longer include psychological abuse.

Without fanfare or even notice, the Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women made significant changes to its definition of domestic violence in April. The Obama-era definition was expansive, vetted by experts including the National Center for Victims of Crime and the National Domestic Violence Hotline. The Trump administration’s definition is substantially more limited and less informed, effectively denying the experiences of victims of abuse by attempting to cast domestic violence as an exclusively criminal concern.

The previous definition included critical components of the phenomenon that experts recognize as domestic abuse—a pattern of deliberate behavior, the dynamics of power and control, and behaviors that encompass physical or sexual violence as well as forms of emotional, economic, or psychological abuse. But in the Trump Justice Department, only harms that constitute a felony or misdemeanor crime may be called domestic violence. So, for example, a woman whose partner isolates her from her family and friends, monitors her every move, belittles and berates her, or denies her access to money to support herself and her children is not a victim of domestic violence in the eyes of Trump’s Department of Justice. This makes no sense for an office charged with funding and implementing solutions to the problem of domestic violence rather than merely prosecuting individual abusers.

Shocking, I know.

The next logical step is the DOJ report stating that domestic violence cases have dropped 50% during Trump's tenure.

[Smoove_B]

President Gaslight removes psychological abuse from the definition of domestic violence? Amazing.

[hepcat]

He's campaigning to get "pussy grabbing" off that list too.

[Isgrimnur]

Who needs press briefings?

President Trump on Tuesday said he directed White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders to stop holding regular briefings, citing unfair treatment by the news media.

“The reason Sarah Sanders does not go to the ‘podium’ much anymore is that the press covers her so rudely & inaccurately, in particular certain members of the press,” Trump tweeted. “I told her not to bother, the word gets out anyway!”

[malchior]

Pretty much memorializing what they were clearly doing anyway. Trump is immune to accountability anyway. Plus, the briefings were pretty useless with this pack of liars.

[stessier]

She was holding regular briefings? I thought they were pretty rare. There was a point in the fall where she didn't have an official briefing for like 30 days, wasn't there?

[Paingod]

She was holding regular briefings?

There's never been anything regular about her briefings. It's one thing to stand in front of the media and spin something, it's a whole different game to stand there and deny reality.

"The Emperor is not now, nor has he ever been, naked in public. He's wearing garments made of the finest fabrics. I myself have sat in his office and never witnessed anything like a toad stool. His hands, though, are made larger by his clothes. Anyone who claims he's nude is an enemy of the people."