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Now That Trump's President... (not any more!)


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the trump admin is going to end the requirement for certain non-profit organizations to disclose the names of their donors to the IRS. this is great because it means now people can freely bribe certain organizations/groups and you'll never know which should now make corruption much easier for those that can afford. brighter days ahead indeed

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/17/us/politics/irs-will-no-longer-force-kochs-and-other-groups-to-disclose-donors.html

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And the bumblefucks in Congress continue to do nothing about it...just sit idly by pointing fingers at each other while a dim-witted orange man and his appointed yes men slowly move the US up the rankings of the most corrupt countries in the world list...

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Well, they're obviously going to have an income increase so stopping it would be against their interests. I think this will be a win win situation for all parties.

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Part of the trap Trump has set is solidifying the idea that there's a clear divide between the "evil" left and "righteous" right, with anyone putting country first against his own policies as the former. 

 

kind of shocking to me that they actually believe that. i tend to feel like, deep down, earnest repubs know that they don't really understand the issues they're talking about, and / or that they are supporting based on some wedge issue, disregarding proportionality to the whole, and that they are mimicking confident opinions they perceived as respected.

 

Okay, everyone here who pays attention knows I'm 100% anti-conspiracy theory shit. This is not a conspiracy promotion, but an honest look at a few facts (as every conspiracy theory supporter would claim of their own ideas, I note the irony). If I'm mistaken on any of this please do mention where and I'll look at it, honestly not like 'researched' anything here, just some thoughts over the last few days...

 

Trump decides he wants to meet with Putin. Has literally no agenda and gives no reason why. There's no excuse or even from what I've seen any hint of purpose given by Trump. Further, no one at all connected to Trump asserts an agenda beyond vague 'improving relations' crap. 

 

Trump states he wants to meet privately with Putin. A few people state this is not a good idea, and it's largely seen as suspicious but at this point everyone just sorta lets him do his dumb shit, I guess? That was my thinking at the time.

 

Trump meets with Putin. They meet privately for two hours. They finish and just after have the press conference yesterday.

 

Trump kisses Putin's ass, of course.

 

THEN...everyone loses their shit (seemingly, this could all fade away in two days) and you've got everyone going out of their way to call his actions treasonous, etc...seems like maybe even his own side is turning on him, or considering it.

 

...my question is, did his 'handlers' basically let him do this very stupid thing, knowing it would blow up in his face? I understand the president holds a fair amount of sway in that he can basically do whatever he wants, but you'd think in a situation like this, he'd have a line of people come up to him beforehand and sit him down in a dark room and tell him it's very much a bad idea for a president to meet with the currently promoted bad-guy-of-the-world and be friendly with him, particularly without any reason whatsoever. I understand it sounds like a shitty thriller but I always guessed there was some amount of truth to that sort of thing...

 

Anyway, conspiracy theory leanings aside, I wonder if this really was his people letting him go off the rails. Finally just caving to let his rampant stupidity run wild and stopping trying to corral him in: "If the orange goon wants to meet with fucking Putin to hang out alone for no reason at all, sure, let him, it'll blow up in his face! He'll look like a treasonous bastard, fuck him."

 

The whole thing just stinks to high heaven from the first mention of it, and I've been looking at it a little sideways ever since...the immediate blowup from not only the expected detractors but also some more vocal doubting from the Trump side of things just seems...fishy. I dunno. Maybe I'm just paying too much attention to it all. I mean it's not really a conspiracy if you're just letting him fuck up his own shit, right? 

 

edit: I forgot to mention an important part: the perfectly timed Russian-citizens indictments Friday and arrest Monday, but you can fit in where it goes...

 

edit edit: not saying this is a bad thing. If everyone at the high levels of government want to let Trump take himself down with his own stupid actions, I'm all for it, not sure why they didn't let that happen from the beginning tbh. But it all seems like maybe there's some coordination of 'okay, we're done, let him go and he'll tear it all down himself with his own stupidity'

 

we should acknowledge the possibility that trump has flipped

Edited by very honest
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read something yesterday, i forget where, that says if there's no Pee tape then the kompromat that putin has on trump is that putin helped him win the election with all the various ways they interfered and assisted. 

 

hey, could be. it's as likely as anything or perhaps more likely. the thought that trump had back channel to russia before his campaign even got off the ground is plausible. a sort of "ok Putin, do your thing and I'll play ball if i win" type of scenario. 

 

i think that w/all the extra garbage criminal activity from the garbage criminal class of fixers, lawyers etc around trump makes for a big shady enterprise.  

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I don’t get it. I assume you’re talking about the World Cup ball thing. But for your joke to work we think she takes balls to the face regularly? Is that a joke people make often? Is that a common thing people say about her? I’ve certainly never heard that.

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Do you think Trump has had sex since he became president? I don't.

 

I don't think he's ever had sex. I think he makes it the way a Ken and Barbie doll do when a curious kid smashes them together.

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read something yesterday, i forget where, that says if there's no Pee tape then the kompromat that putin has on trump is that putin helped him win the election with all the various ways they interfered and assisted. 

 

hey, could be. it's as likely as anything or perhaps more likely. the thought that trump had back channel to russia before his campaign even got off the ground is plausible. a sort of "ok Putin, do your thing and I'll play ball if i win" type of scenario. 

 

i think that w/all the extra garbage criminal activity from the garbage criminal class of fixers, lawyers etc around trump makes for a big shady enterprise.  

 

A local morning show got into an interesting debate over that. 

 

They all agreed it was clear Trump had explicit reasons to act the way he did but one guy is pretty sure there's the pee tape, in fact he things it's likely worse - underage girls or something. The other guy actually wondered if Trump would be embarrassed about a pee tape at this point. He's literally gotten away with proven infidelity and sexist behavior. He thinks the "dirt" is really more of this inability for Trump to do anything to jeopardize his wide array of business interests in Russia, down to the very likely fact that they put him in office via electoral interference. Putin has managed to keep himself in power yet punish those who cross him - and that includes billionaires and other powerful oligarchs. He's imprisoned or exiled powerful people, not just small fry dissidents. There's no reason to doubt he could end Trump and get away with it.

 

On a related note, collusion aside, there's still the unprecedented fact that's he's not disclosed his taxes nor relinquished control of his enterprises. Also historically he's never stuck with on business - he starts a project or enterprise, mines the wealth from it, then discards it. He does this with his relentless, shameless salesman attitude. He has the same mentality with his wives: marry, procreate, divorce. He now has the same mentality as POTUS - exploit the executive branch to his own interest and move on. 

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Im sure some of them knew this would blow up in his face regardless of what he said. but these quotes seem like there may have been naother plan that he didnt go with:

 

"By contrast, a Trump administration official that was involved in the summit planning told CNN, “This was not the plan.” "

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/07/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-helsinki-summit

 

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/trump-ignored-advice-putin-press-conference-helsinki-a8451111.html

Counter to the plan': Trump ignored advisers' advice over press conference with Vladimir Putin, White House insiders say

Good catches there, didn't notice that phrasing. It could be just that the plan was not to meet Putin in private yet Donny insisted, or perhaps it was not to meet Putin at all? We may never know.

 

@ auxien

 

Yeah, I mean what did everyone expect, right? That Donnie was going to go in there and read from his handlers approved script in front of his bff Vlad? I think what you're saying about his handlers just letting him go run amuck has got to be right.

 

But I'm afraid like every other fuck up before this and probably so for the next 2 years (or 6), this will all blow over, Donnie will be back to firing up maga crowds, tweeting insults to anyone who disagrees with him, and will keep on arrogantly believing he is right about everything and should always trust his super businessman "insticts" and not what that fake news crap has got to say...

Yeah, his weak ass walkback bullshit yesterday was maybe just enough to pat down the fire. Still seems to be some general unease lingering, hopefully that stays and grows and his supporters (in government, couldn't give fuck all less care about his MAGA crowds in the lands) will start to question and criticize him more. He doesn't like the criticism, and if they can coordinate it to come from every direction then maybe it'll wear down on him.

 

 

Okay, everyone here who pays attention knows I'm 100% anti-conspiracy theory shit. This is not a conspiracy promotion, but an honest look at a few facts (as every conspiracy theory supporter would claim of their own ideas, I note the irony). If I'm mistaken on any of this please do mention where and I'll look at it, honestly not like 'researched' anything here, just some thoughts over the last few days...

 

Trump decides he wants to meet with Putin. Has literally no agenda and gives no reason why. There's no excuse or even from what I've seen any hint of purpose given by Trump. Further, no one at all connected to Trump asserts an agenda beyond vague 'improving relations' crap. 

 

Trump states he wants to meet privately with Putin. A few people state this is not a good idea, and it's largely seen as suspicious but at this point everyone just sorta lets him do his dumb shit, I guess? That was my thinking at the time.

 

Trump meets with Putin. They meet privately for two hours. They finish and just after have the press conference yesterday.

 

Trump kisses Putin's ass, of course.

 

THEN...everyone loses their shit (seemingly, this could all fade away in two days) and you've got everyone going out of their way to call his actions treasonous, etc...seems like maybe even his own side is turning on him, or considering it.

 

...my question is, did his 'handlers' basically let him do this very stupid thing, knowing it would blow up in his face? I understand the president holds a fair amount of sway in that he can basically do whatever he wants, but you'd think in a situation like this, he'd have a line of people come up to him beforehand and sit him down in a dark room and tell him it's very much a bad idea for a president to meet with the currently promoted bad-guy-of-the-world and be friendly with him, particularly without any reason whatsoever. I understand it sounds like a shitty thriller but I always guessed there was some amount of truth to that sort of thing...

 

Anyway, conspiracy theory leanings aside, I wonder if this really was his people letting him go off the rails. Finally just caving to let his rampant stupidity run wild and stopping trying to corral him in: "If the orange goon wants to meet with fucking Putin to hang out alone for no reason at all, sure, let him, it'll blow up in his face! He'll look like a treasonous bastard, fuck him."

 

The whole thing just stinks to high heaven from the first mention of it, and I've been looking at it a little sideways ever since...the immediate blowup from not only the expected detractors but also some more vocal doubting from the Trump side of things just seems...fishy. I dunno. Maybe I'm just paying too much attention to it all. I mean it's not really a conspiracy if you're just letting him fuck up his own shit, right? 

 

edit: I forgot to mention an important part: the perfectly timed Russian-citizens indictments Friday and arrest Monday, but you can fit in where it goes...

 

 

 

 

edit edit: not saying this is a bad thing. If everyone at the high levels of government want to let Trump take himself down with his own stupid actions, I'm all for it, not sure why they didn't let that happen from the beginning tbh. But it all seems like maybe there's some coordination of 'okay, we're done, let him go and he'll tear it all down himself with his own stupidity' 

 

I think this is a great question, we can only speculate how much Trump has actually invested himself in the job. Some argue he's literally just doing this with absolutely no care for the country and completely to benefit his own personal business interests. Some fear he's literally taking the US down some right-wing populist authoritarian path. The truth is somewhere in-between. What is for certain is that Trump has opened the floodgates to corruption and subversiveness that's beyond anything any previous administration has done.

 

There have been so many firings and resignations form his own allies, not just nonpartisan officials, that it seems he's barely manageable. It's all about towing the line regardless. Steer here enough and he'll comply to basics of the job and suggestions of both experts as well as nut job influences. Push back on him too much and he'll fire you and try to shoot down your credibility. That's why we've seen such caution from the "babysitters" like Mattis and those at the FBI still in charge. The GOP has had so few speak out against him because the party has essentially become his operation. He's established a cabal while in office, I just don't know how much is his own doing versus his complacent. 

 

Yesterday was uncharted territory. It's evident that he refused to meet Putin with others in the room. So now we have an actual nonpartisan point to draw a line - already you are seeing the Trump fanatics like say, Hannity at FOX and the bots and trolls online versus a wide variety of Trump supporters who have previously defended him on just about every other issue.

 

I don't think it was so much a elaborate effort to pin him down with his own stupidity so much as it was an inevitable endgame.

 

^ Yeah, his own not trusting and listening, along with his rampant idiocy and terrible decision-making skills, will likely be the only thing that will take him down.

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Part of the trap Trump has set is solidifying the idea that there's a clear divide between the "evil" left and "righteous" right, with anyone putting country first against his own policies as the former. 

 

kind of shocking to me that they actually believe that. i tend to feel like, deep down, earnest repubs know that they don't really understand the issues they're talking about, and / or that they are supporting based on some wedge issue, disregarding proportionality to the whole, and that they are mimicking confident opinions they perceived as respected.

 

edit: I forgot to mention an important part: the perfectly timed Russian-citizens indictments Friday and arrest Monday, but you can fit in where it goes...

 

edit edit: not saying this is a bad thing. If everyone at the high levels of government want to let Trump take himself down with his own stupid actions, I'm all for it, not sure why they didn't let that happen from the beginning tbh. But it all seems like maybe there's some coordination of 'okay, we're done, let him go and he'll tear it all down himself with his own stupidity'

we should acknowledge the possibility that trump has flipped

That's definitely the general feeling from a lot of people after this. Some are being more open with saying it, but the ones who matter are definitely hinting that they're seriously considering this as a very real possibility....it all could blow away with the wind in a moment, though...

 

Gas lighting mother fucker.

Seriously, it's disgusting.

 

at 10:55 in maddow's monday "a block" she goes over the butina thing. worth a watch

I love the way she digests and then presents information, used to watch her often a few years back. What she's laying out there, along with other bits and hints from elsewhere, suggests that there are major Republican party members who are willingly or accidentally supporting this...I wanna know if so, where are our intelligence agencies? Aren't they supposed to be all over this? Or do they take a hands off approach when it comes to actual high-ranking politicians, because that's the only reason I can fathom that the CIA/FBI/whoever isn't immediately intercepting these efforts from Russia. Why is all this shit just coming to light (not just that it's publicly known, but that it's apparently just being acted upon) over a year after the acts?

 

Do you think Trump has had sex since he became president? I don't.

 

I don't think he's ever had sex. I think he makes it the way a Ken and Barbie doll do when a curious kid smashes them together.

lol basically.

 

I assume there's a few Mar-A-Lago hookers who know first hand. But also I think we all forget that Melania is willingly married to this man, she knew what she was getting into when she did. She's stayed with him. She's surely laying down with him as often as it's necessary/helpful.

Edited by auxien
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Part of the trap Trump has set is solidifying the idea that there's a clear divide between the "evil" left and "righteous" right, with anyone putting country first against his own policies as the former. 

 

kind of shocking to me that they actually believe that. i tend to feel like, deep down, earnest repubs know that they don't really understand the issues they're talking about, and / or that they are supporting based on some wedge issue, disregarding proportionality to the whole, and that they are mimicking confident opinions they perceived as respected. 

 

 

 

I agree that those are common reasons GOP voters stick with Trump, and it's built on rhetorical tactics that have been gradually solidified and started before Reagan. Ignorance and wedge issues indeed.

 

Despite that, I stand by that conclusion. Yesterday was a line in the sand. If you excise the Mueller investigation and collusion, and you can, it was still objectively wrong what he did in Helsinki. It transcends partisan politics. It's not the worst thing but it's free of the left vs right debate tied to other wrongs he's committed under his term. There are going to be Republicans who stick with him and those who will continue to call him out on this very basic moral obligation as POTUS. Those in the latter camp will eventually be forced out or will voluntarily leave.

 

You are now witnessing the Trump supporters who have turned on 100% unwavering support for him and the Republican Party over Roy Moore's defeat is about the only other preview of a litmus test earlier I can think of that occurred earlier, with some voting for a Dem, Nick Saban, or abstaining. I've already seen conservative friends of mine yesterday acknowledge embarrassment over Helsinki while others went even further into denial, redirecting, or flat out conspiracy territory. Many are either too far gone or are way too proud to back down. That sentiment of lacking courage is withering away to straight up obliviousness and delusion, if it hasn't already.

 

Offhand I can break down those supporting Trump is multiple categories. I know people personally who fit each one:

 

- Naive Ignorant - the Ken Bone independent voters, those who normally don't vote, those who voted Obama in 2008, etc. Many probably regret it. Others have no idea what's going on. They could easily vote Dem or not vote next election. Many probably won't even know the mid-terms are coming up.

 

- Right-wing Ignorant - the anti-Clinton, drain the swamp, MAGA suckers and those who are the "wedge issue" folks - the Christian and pro-life fall in this camp. So do the rust belt working class folks. This is the legacy of the Tea Party movement. They likely complain about populist issues that harm them while blindly supporting Republicans who enact them. They aren't racist or mean-spirited IRL but they hypocritically excuse or echo that ethos indirectly or via complacency.

 

- Pragmatic - these are folks who think the POTUS is reckless imbecile, albeit quietly...but stocks are doing well. The baby-sitters in the Trump admin fall in this camp, so do all of the GOP members who criticized Trump before he was elected but are happy about de-regulation, tax cuts, and special interests. They are biding their time. They range from moderate to very conservative but none are in the alt-right or conspiracy territory - after all the Wall Street and wealth isn't limited to one ideological side.

 

- Right-wing extreme - the alt-right, the pro-Kremlin, anti-Liberal Democracy elements and the emboldened white supremacists, nationalists, fringe elements, etc. The absolute scariest of the bunch because they are yielding increasing influence on the above three camps and above all else it's undermining the fundamental beliefs of American democracy. They sway the naive via relentless misinformation - faux news, online bots, subversive social media, etc. Their rhetoric is eaten up voraciously by the ignorant right-wingers and is gradually converting them. The pragmatic, establishment right-wingers are constrained by their effectiveness and increasingly undermined by the extreme. It is anything but conservative - it's right wing populism.This a seed Trump planted even if he doesn't believe it himself. He certainly didn't beforehand but his own delusions and narcissism likely means by default he espouses it.

 

We have authoritarians seeking one-party rule in power. Our Republic is being bombarded to hell but is historically stronger in it's Constitution and laws than most other democracies that have fallen to dictatorships via fascism or left wing populist-peddling despots. That's how we've avoided full on civil strife, a constitutional crises, a coup, etc. for now. I hope it can stay entact long enough to flush Trump and those taking advantage of his presidency out.

Edited by joshuatx
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^ that needs to be uploaded to every form of news outlets comment section everywhere on internets.

Edited by olo
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the trump admin is going to end the requirement for certain non-profit organizations to disclose the names of their donors to the IRS. this is great because it means now people can freely bribe certain organizations/groups and you'll never know which should now make corruption much easier for those that can afford. brighter days ahead indeed

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/17/us/politics/irs-will-no-longer-force-kochs-and-other-groups-to-disclose-donors.html

 

 

 

Damn

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What the actual fuck?

 

There's so much absurdity in all of this that it's hard to keep track of or even put it all together. And it's moving to fast for us to even feel like we even need to connect anything cuz it's kind of spelling itself out in real time.

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