The Former Trump Presidency Thread

[Holman]

Macron's the one who apparently put the military parade bug in Trump's mind, so I don't feel *too* bad for him.

Well, the Bastille Day parade is an old French Imperial tradition.

It's not Macron's fault that Trump doesn't understand American institutions.

[LawBeefaroni]

Macron made a chump of Drumpf in the handshake showdown, so presumably this is revenge. Given Macron's handling of Drumpf in the past, I'm sure this particular offense rolled right off his back was brushed right off his lapel.

FTFY.



Trump's "power moves" are so absurd at this point. He's like a primate at a KBE gathering.

[milo]

As seen on Twitter:

“When the aging gorilla is confronted with the much more virile, new alpha-male, he shows submissiveness by grooming the alpha-male, but the gesture is actually a vain attempt by the old gorilla to humiliate his much younger rival.”

(Not sure if this is a real quote from the noted primatologist.)

[Chaz]

Even if not real, it seems to be exactly what that was. A subtle "hey, it's okay that you've got dandruff, let me help you with that" and then a could be sarcastic, could be not "you're so perfect."

[tgb]

All I know is the state dinner will look like this.

[Kraken]

Slow news day.

From what I read, Melania planned every detail of the state dinner and she hit it out of the park. From the decor to the menu and the wine, everything was carefully researched and culturally chosen to signify US-Franco unity. Being a socialite is what she does, and even if that's a talent none of us except Hepcat are positioned to appreciate, she deserves credit for doing it well. AFAIK her husband got through without screwing it up, so that's nice, too.

[YellowKing]

It's sad when the President sitting through dinner without screwing something up is considered a major achievement.

[Carpet_pissr]

Macron made a chump of Drumpf in the handshake showdown, so presumably this is revenge. Given Macron's handling of Drumpf in the past, I'm sure this particular offense rolled right off his back was brushed right off his lapel.

FTFY.

[pr0ner]

So how about all those Kanye West tweets and Trump's retweet of them yesterday?





Already saw one hugely liked/retweeted tweet (thanks to a friend liking it) calling Kanye an Uncle Tom already because of this.

[Remus West]

I don't know that I'd go that far but anyone who thought Kanye wasn't off his rocker already now has definitive proof.

[YellowKing]

Kanye only does anything for Kanye. I ignore his "controversial" statements because he's a shameless attention whore who will say anything to keep his name in the spotlight.

[Moliere]

Uncle Tom
Off his rocker, i.e. crazy
shameless attention whore

Yeah, I can't imagine why black conservatives keep their mouth's shut. Kind of like being a conservative in Hollywood.

[El Guapo]

Uncle Tom
Off his rocker, i.e. crazy
shameless attention whore

Yeah, I can't imagine why black conservatives keep their mouth's shut. Kind of like being a conservative in Hollywood.

I mean, people call Kanye most of that stuff normally. Because he's, you know, off his rocker, and something of an attention whore.

[Holman]

Kanye's bold stance is the first step towards Stephen Baldwin finally getting the intellectual respect he deserves.

[Moliere]

I mean, people call Kanye most of that stuff normally. Because he's, you know, off his rocker, and something of an attention whore.

I don't know what you're talking about.

[hepcat]

I'm guessing Kanye's about to release a new Red Bull competitor called Dragon Energy.

[pr0ner]

I'm guessing Kanye's about to release a new Red Bull competitor called Dragon Energy.

Is that going to compete with Charlie Sheen's Tiger Blood?

[malchior]

Uncle Tom
Off his rocker, i.e. crazy
shameless attention whore

Yeah, I can't imagine why black conservatives keep their mouth's shut. Kind of like being a conservative in Hollywood.

Kanye is a conservative in the same way as Trump is.

[Remus West]

I'm guessing Kanye's about to release a new Red Bull competitor called Dragon Energy.

Is that going to compete with Charlie Sheen's Tiger Blood?

Oooooo....A West/Sheen 2020 ticket. Talk about winning!

[pr0ner]

I'm guessing Kanye's about to release a new Red Bull competitor called Dragon Energy.

Is that going to compete with Charlie Sheen's Tiger Blood?

Oooooo....A West/Sheen 2020 ticket. Talk about bi-winning!

FTFY.

[Defiant]

Trump pushes to swap Electoral College for popular vote

“The Electoral College is different. I would rather have the popular vote because it's, to me, it's much easier to win the popular vote,” he continued.

[El Guapo]

Trump pushes to swap Electoral College for popular vote

“The Electoral College is different. I would rather have the popular vote because it's, to me, it's much easier to win the popular vote,” he continued.

Yeah, it's a random ramble that will soon be forgotten, and/or one of his aides will explain to him that that's not what he really thinks. Still, I appreciate him saying so.

[Holman]

This is bizarre. Does he understand that some forms of competition are not other forms of competition?

The U.S. has put together a STRONG bid w/ Canada & Mexico for the 2026 World Cup. It would be a shame if countries that we always support were to lobby against the U.S. bid. Why should we be supporting these countries when they don’t support us (including at the United Nations)?

I'd love to have a reporter ask Trump who won that last World Cup.

(Or the Crimean War, since they are apparently the same thing.)

[hepcat]

I'd love to have a reporter ask Trump who won that last World Cup.

He’d probably tell you the New Jersey Generals.

[Alefroth]

Uncle Tom
Off his rocker, i.e. crazy
shameless attention whore

Yeah, I can't imagine why black conservatives keep their mouth's shut. Kind of like being a conservative in Hollywood.

Is Kanye a conservative? Do black conservatives keep their mouths shut?

[Moliere]

Is Kanye a conservative? Do black conservatives keep their mouths shut?

How about this, he's a black man showing support for Trump. Here's his quote:

You don't have to agree with trump but the mob can't make me not love him. We are both dragon energy. He is my brother. I love everyone. I don't agree with everything anyone does. That's what makes us individuals. And we have the right to independent thought.

Taking out the dragon energy nonsense, you have Kane saying:
1) You don't have to agree with everything about Trump
2) He's not going to be pressured into disliking him
3) It's unlikely that we would agree with everything about someone
4) We're all individuals (said in the voice of Life of Brian)
5) Independent thought is a good thing

Why would someone like Kanye feel the need to express these thoughts of mob mentality and the value of independent thought?

Would would someone like Chance feel the need to post this:

[Moliere]

That didn't take long.

[Alefroth]

Is Kanye a conservative? Do black conservatives keep their mouths shut?

How about this, he's a black man showing support for Trump. Here's his quote:

You don't have to agree with trump but the mob can't make me not love him. We are both dragon energy. He is my brother. I love everyone. I don't agree with everything anyone does. That's what makes us individuals. And we have the right to independent thought.

Taking out the dragon energy nonsense, you have Kane saying:
1) You don't have to agree with everything about Trump
2) He's not going to be pressured into disliking him
3) It's unlikely that we would agree with everything about someone
4) We're all individuals (said in the voice of Life of Brian)
5) Independent thought is a good thing

Why would someone like Kanye feel the need to express these thoughts of mob mentality and the value of independent thought?

Would would someone like Chance feel the need to post this:

Where is the notion that blacks have to be democrats coming from? I agree that Uncle Tom is going too far, but I don't think calling out a black man for professing love for someone who at the very least uses racism to get what he wants means that blacks can't be conservative.

[GreenGoo]

He's not being called out for being a conservative, he's being called out for supporting a obviously racist cancer in the white house.

And no, it is not ok to be a Drumpf supporter at this point, and that has nothing to do with partisan politics.

[Alefroth]

He's not being called out for being a conservative, he's being called out for supporting a obviously racist cancer in the white house.

If you're replying to me, that's what I said.

[Rip]

That is all fine and dandy, but we know the next guy will face the same rhetoric. Poor Pence.

Just the same crap Bush/Cheney faced. Actually Trump trolling for it has probably saved Pence from a lot of heat, But we all know it will come if something happens to Trump and he isn't around to be the villain dejour.

[Remus West]

That is all fine and dandy, but we know the next guy will face the same rhetoric. Poor Pence.

Just the same crap Bush/Cheney faced. Actually Trump trolling for it has probably saved Pence from a lot of heat, But we all know it will come if something happens to Trump and he isn't around to be the villain dejour.

New game show idea.

Rhetoric or Reality of who he is.

[Enough]

Is Kanye a conservative? Do black conservatives keep their mouths shut?

How about this, he's a black man showing support for Trump. Here's his quote:

You don't have to agree with trump but the mob can't make me not love him. We are both dragon energy. He is my brother. I love everyone. I don't agree with everything anyone does. That's what makes us individuals. And we have the right to independent thought.

Taking out the dragon energy nonsense, you have Kane saying:
1) You don't have to agree with everything about Trump
2) He's not going to be pressured into disliking him
3) It's unlikely that we would agree with everything about someone
4) We're all individuals (said in the voice of Life of Brian)
5) Independent thought is a good thing

Why would someone like Kanye feel the need to express these thoughts of mob mentality and the value of independent thought?

Would would someone like Chance feel the need to post this:

Right and if you're white and rich there is strong pressure to be a Republican. Am I right?

But don't you run the risk of affirming further stereotypes when you go off on fake Earth Day trash photos?

[LawBeefaroni]

Both of those guys were raised under Chicago Democrats and the Machine. Republicans are like unicorns and Frenchmen.

[noxiousdog]

Right and if you're white and rich there is strong pressure to be a Republican. Am I right?

I'm not sure if this is sarcasm or not.

There absolutely is strong pressure to affiliate with the political party of whichever social circle you find yourself in.

[Enough]

Right and if you're white and rich there is strong pressure to be a Republican. Am I right?

I'm not sure if this is sarcasm or not.

There absolutely is strong pressure to affiliate with the political party of whichever social circle you find yourself in.

I was being genuine. There's tons of pressure on black people to be liberal and yes if you are rich (especially new rich) to be Republican.

[Moliere]

Chance The Rapper says the unthinkable and takes it back. But he's right, and not just about African Americans.

Chance is certainly right about his hometown's longstanding Democratic rule—the last time the Windy City had a Republican mayor was back in 1931. (As with many industrial cities, control there flipped from Prohibition-supporting GOP machines to Democratic machines due to changing demographics and shifting attitudes toward Catholic and Jewish immigrants.) And as he grudgingly acknowledges, Democratic rule in Chicago hasn't been good for African Americans. The city's police department routinely violates the rights of black and Latino residents, according to a scathing Department of Justice report issued last year. Massively powerful unions have blocked reforms not just of police but of awful schools, while extorting generous pensions and benefits that have brought the city to the edge of bankruptcy and kept it from providing basic services. Chance himself has donated $1 million to Chicago's schools, which have been deemed the country's worst at least since 1987.

Chance was immediately called out as a hypocrite for defending Kanye West. It's not difficult to understand why he felt a need to separate himself from his comments about blacks not needing to be Democrats. Over the past 70 years, no voting bloc has been more identified with the Democratic Party than blacks. Since 1948, when the Democrats inserted a civil rights plank in their platform, a majority of blacks have identified as Democrats. No Republican presidential candidate has pulled more than 15 percent of the African-American vote since 1960, when Nixon received 32 percent against John F. Kennedy.
...
But absent concrete steps to address such urgent issues as criminal justice reform, school choice, occupational licensing, and the drug war, all of which disproportionately affect minority populations, there's no reason to assume that black support for Democrats will continue, any more than publicly regulated taxicabs, postwar shopping malls, or old Fortune 500 companies can hope to persist. Political parties are contingent organizations whose meanings and commitments need to change over time and in reaction to customer demands. Most Americans are increasingly alienated from the current iterations of either party for the simple reason that the Democratic and Republican coalitions were designed to appeal to political realities that made sense back in the late 20th century. The car you drive, the food you eat, the music you listen to—none of these things are the same as they were back in 1978, 1988, or 1998. So why should the political party you vote for?

[Isgrimnur]

Because there are no other parties with any national, or even state, power?

[Sepiche]

The Democrats aren't perfect and many could certainly be more vocal when it comes to racial justice issues, however... as long as the other option continues to actively court white nationalists and tolerate candidates who are openly racist, I think most African Americans will naturally gravitate toward the Democrats.

Again, Democrats may not be perfect, but there is a huge gulf between needing to do more to help our country with racial issues, and actively making race relations worse.

[Moliere]

Again, Democrats may not be perfect, but there is a huge gulf between needing to do more to help our country with racial issues, and actively making race relations worse.

may not be perfect is a bit of an understatement.

Chicago has a long history of public corruption that regularly draws the attention of federal law enforcement and federal prosecutors. Chicago's political landscape has been firmly under the control of the Democratic Party for over 50 years and has been widely described as a political machine. In the 1980s, the FBI's Operation Greylord uncovered massive and systemic corruption in Chicago's judicial system.
...
The late 1980s and 1990s saw further efforts by the FBI to prosecute Chicago's public crime syndicates. Operation Incubator obtained about a dozen convictions or guilty pleas, including those from five members of the City Council and an aide to former Mayor Harold Washington.
...
From 1972 to 2012, 33 Chicago Alderman were convicted on corruption charges, a conviction rate of roughly ⅓ of those elected in the time period. A report from the Office of the Legislative Inspector General noted that over half of Chicago's elected alderman took illegal campaign contributions in 2013.
...
Chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party and county assessor, Joseph Berrios, has been continually accused of nepotism, cronyism and abusive political patronage.

Since 1983 the Chief of Police has been an African American four out of eight times.

Read/listen to Larry Elder, Thomas Sowell, and Walter Williams for a different perspective on race issues.