The Trump presidency

[CrabbedOne]

On Politico President Trump Has Done Almost Nothing

...
But Miller was dead wrong about this. There is a wide gap, a chasm even, between what the administration has said and what it has done. There have been 45 executive orders or presidential memoranda signed, which may seem like a lot but lags President Barack Obama’s pace. More crucially, with the notable exception of the travel ban, almost none of these orders have mandated much action or clear change of current regulations. So far, Trump has behaved exactly like he has throughout his previous career: He has generated intense attention and sold himself as a man of action while doing little other than promote an image of himself as someone who gets things done.

It is the illusion of a presidency, not the real thing.
...

Hollow government by stunt is the heart of Trumpismo.

 

[CrabbedOne]

Went down in a bribery scandal involving foreign powers.

 

[DotCommunist]

first its in like flynn now its not

 

[Ranbay]

.

 

[Cloo]

Oh God, Trump made some statement about 'zero tolerance for killings of police' (as if this far authority has been laissez-faire about it) and right wing Twitter is full of #bluelivesmatter

I'm trying to see if anyone can show me the evidence that police killers go unpunished somehow.

Though presumably the underlying thought here is that police always ought to be able to claim self defense, especially against black people.

 

[CrabbedOne]

Home of that other cluster of monied elite corruption: The Kennedy Compound.

 

[CRI]

Flynn's out, but that's hardly making Trump's swamp less murky.

He's right behind Trump in this shot while detailed national security information was shared with random diners at Trump's club. Just take a wee moment to reflect on the hypocrisy of his comments about Clinton during the campaign (and I've included the anti-semitic re-tweet, which he did delete and apologise for but c'mon. . . )

 

[CRI]

Any surprise in this?

Abe says Trump encouraged him to boost ties, dialogue with Putin

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Monday he has earned U.S. President Donald Trump’s backing in seeking closer ties with Russia in a bid to resolve a long-standing territorial row over islands off Hokkaido that Japan wants returned.

“President Trump understands Japan’s (policy) to promote dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin to resolve the territorial issue,” Abe told a TV program after returning from the United States, where he held his first summit with Trump on Friday and Saturday in Washington and Florida.

Trump has adopted a softer stance toward Russia than his predecessor, Barack Obama, who was at odds with Putin over the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria.

The Obama administration had been cautious about Abe courting Putin with economic cooperation and even requested that he refrain from visiting Russia at one point, government sources said earlier.

Abe also said that he agreed with Trump on the need to engage in dialogue with Putin to resolve outstanding global issues, including Syria and Ukraine.

At their summit Friday, Abe and Trump confirmed the strength of the bilateral alliance, with Trump affirming that the United States is committed to the defense of Japan, including if the Japanese-administered Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, which are claimed by China, come under attack.

 

[CrabbedOne]

Apparently the gradations of idiocy in Arabic are many.

It was not all just bad mouthing of Trumpski from the HA leader Nasrallah. He indirectly confirmed Trump was right about Obama and Clinton creating IS. Well he would say that wouldn't he. The Khomeinists had the US was the author of all evils including IS long before Trump was running down the deeds of Uncle Sam.

Strange days: both The Party Of God and a Great Satan President cozying up with the Lesser Satan Kremlin.

 

[CrabbedOne]

Any surprise in this?

Abe says Trump encouraged him to boost ties, dialogue with Putin

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Monday he has earned U.S. President Donald Trump’s backing in seeking closer ties with Russia in a bid to resolve a long-standing territorial row over islands off Hokkaido that Japan wants returned.

“President Trump understands Japan’s (policy) to promote dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin to resolve the territorial issue,” Abe told a TV program after returning from the United States, where he held his first summit with Trump on Friday and Saturday in Washington and Florida.

Trump has adopted a softer stance toward Russia than his predecessor, Barack Obama, who was at odds with Putin over the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria.

The Obama administration had been cautious about Abe courting Putin with economic cooperation and even requested that he refrain from visiting Russia at one point, government sources said earlier.

Abe also said that he agreed with Trump on the need to engage in dialogue with Putin to resolve outstanding global issues, including Syria and Ukraine.

At their summit Friday, Abe and Trump confirmed the strength of the bilateral alliance, with Trump affirming that the United States is committed to the defense of Japan, including if the Japanese-administered Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, which are claimed by China, come under attack.

...
The prime minister said he believes Trump is “gradually” gaining understanding of the significance of the 12-party Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, although Trump has announced the United States will withdraw from it.

Abe also said Trump, who has been critical of the United States’ trade deficit with Japan, now knows that the “(current) structure is different from that of the trade frictions in the 1980s and 1990s.”

Abe said he explained to Trump that exports of Japanese cars are decreasing compared with the 1980s and 1990s, and more Japanese cars are produced in the United States.
...

Abe probably means Trump's slowly beginning to grasp TPP is about collectively containing China.

 

[gosub]

Home of that other cluster of monied elite corruption: The Kennedy Compound.

3 weeks in... And not quite as dodgy as Nixon

 

[not-bono-ever]

The resurrection of the TPP.....how come no one spoke to chump about this earlier?

 

[CRI]

yes, the great american labour songbook, must have been about made up battles,disputes, CRI has no idea about working class life and culture, what about the huge steelworks fights, Fords, all documented in the great BBC series, The People's Century

Okay, so we have people who say they're socialists, but with no direct experience of living in a working class community in America dismissing the lived experience and insights of a person who grew up in one, because that person doesn't have enough "book learning" on socialism in America? Or perhaps it's because they failed to learn enough about "working class life and culture" from a song book or a BBC documentary?

At least I now think I "get" why many here still insist Sanders was "robbed" of the party nomination and would have trounced Trump given the chance, as well as the unwillingness to see the white supremacy woven into the fabric of the country. It's believing in a "dream" America that doesn't actually exist (as much as I wish it did myself!), and rejecting anything that might burst that bubble.

If it's any consolation, most Americans aren't great at facing facts that don't suit them. Trump's team manage to mobilse a huge swathe of white people who are also motivated by belief in a "Dream America," of a different sort.

 

[CRI]

Wee follow up to Bimble's This Land is Your Land post - interesting piece:

A white nationalist fantasy: Donald Trump’s America is not “made for you and me”
As the writings of right-wing ideologue "Decius" make clear, Trump's America sees only whites as full citizens

Many Americans still feel a sense of shock over how the United States could so suddenly go from the more cosmopolitan and inclusive presidency of Barack Obama to the naked bigotry and racism of Trump. Unfortunately, American history is deeply marked by the enduring power of white supremacy and white nationalism. As troubling as this fact may be (especially for those born after the Civil Rights movement and who cast their first presidential votes for a black man), those repugnant values are not deviations from the country’s trajectory.

In his role as the white nationalist in chief of the United States, Donald Trump wants to make clear that America is a white man’s country and that everyone else permitted to live here is just a guest, permanently “on notice.” This is revanchism of the worst kind, and a desperate effort to turn back the clock to the wrong side of history.

Donald Trump and his minions will soon discover that black and brown people built America. Indeed, many of them were in the United States long before “white” Europeans arrived and tried to claim it exclusively as their own. The United States is a mulatto society, not a white nation. In many ways, black and brown people are the quintessential Americans. Whatever Trump may say or do, they are not going anywhere.

 

[CrabbedOne]

On Bloomberg U.K. Lobbies Trump Officials to Stay in Paris Climate Deal

...
Businesses and environmental groups have urged May to raise the issue of climate change with Trump, and company executives have been emphasizing the job-creating opportunities that come from cutting back on pollution. The most recent figures from the U.S. Energy Department show about 600,000 Americans with jobs generating power with green technologies compared to about 150,000 working with fossil fuels.

Economic arguments may resonate with Trump, who has pledged to revive the coal industry and jobs in areas where mines have closed down while questioning climate science. Spending on clean energy in the U.S. reached $58.6 billion last year, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

On Monday, a group of governors that included eight Republicans released a letter to Trump saying wind and solar are crucial economic engines for impoverished rural regions. And last month, more than 600 U.S. companies including DuPont Co., Johnson & Johnson and Monsanto Co. issued a statement urging the president not to withdraw from the Paris deal, saying it will generate trillions of dollars in clean energy investments.

I suspect Trump will favour "Drill baby! Drill!" Full spectrum denialism is becoming an article of faith of faith with his base.

 

[bimble]

This is trump's response to the whole thing: the real problem is illegal leakers endangering national security by talking to the failing media.

 

[CRI]

This is trump's response to the whole thing: the real problem is illegal leakers endangering national security by talking to the failing media.

View attachment 100472

Of course it is.

Funny though what Flynn was saying during the GOP National Convention (all worth watching, but check around 1.40 especially)



"If I did a tenth of what she (Hilary Clinton) did, I'd be in jail today."

Even if he's "resigned," he had at least 3 weeks of pretty unfettered access to high level security info, so, when are they going to "lock him up?"

 

[Raheem]

This is trump's response to the whole thing: the real problem is illegal leakers endangering national security by talking to the failing media.

View attachment 100472

Yeah, Donald, there are literally dozens of ways in which your administration is chaotic and useless. Why doesn't the media talk about those for a change?

 

[CrabbedOne]

3 weeks in... And not quite as dodgy as Nixon

I can remember the last days of Nixon.

A lot of people hated him but he was a very able politician and diplomat. Rarely did you have the feeling he didn't know what he was doing. He was plainly qualified for office if darkly paranoid, antisemitic and fond of the bottle. Nixon in the midst of a controversial and bloody war started by his hardly less Machiavellian predecessors won his second term with a landslide painting the electoral map almost entirely red. He'd go on to reach out to China.

When he hacked into the Dem campaign it was an honest burglary by patriotic US citizens. Such dirty tricks were not unique to the Nixon campaign but they got caught. Tricky Dicky even then wasn't widely suspected of being in league with the Kremlin or out only to enrich himself and a bunch of Wall St cronies in office. When he lied about being involved to cover it up he was in big trouble.

The Donald on the other hand lies routinely and shamelessly. He appears unable to grasp the complex mechanics of US government. What the Nixon Presidency wasn't was an immense empty vanity project under an expensive combover like this one. I think Team Trumpski is already reeking like a fish rotting from the head.

 

[CrabbedOne]

On Bloomberg Trump Hasn't Met Pogo's Enemy

...
According to a Politico report on Monday, the president is turning to outsiders like Wall Street executive Steve Schwarzman for advice on his staffing mess. Schwarzman is smart and understands Wall Street and markets. His knowledge of Washington is limited.

There is talk among Republicans of bringing in a new team manned by experienced adults. That happened in 1986 in Ronald Reagan's presidency, when former Senate Republican Leader Howard Baker was enlisted to deal with White House management chaos. The difference: Baker was brought in to help an adult.

Reagan also ran a very loose ship but the big difference is he'd been a successful Governor of California for eight years. That's perhaps the second biggest job in US politics. He was from a extreme wing of the GOP establishment and an old ham but well qualified to be a President. He knew he needed help and could take Baker's guidance.

Trump's the son of a slum real estate developer who made a business off a big loan from Poppy and the old man's corrupt political connections. He's a wealthy playboy. That he's weathered catastrophic failure in business is perhaps the best point in his CV as a CEO. He is very impressed with himself. A braggart skilled at pushing his own brand. He has only ever run a privately owned family firm. He has just one Presidential campaign behind him. Even if they put an adult in charge of his Whitehouse he'll likely throw his toys out of the pram. It never worked during the campaign.

 

[gosub]

I can remember the last days of Nixon.

A lot of people hated him but he was a very able politician and diplomat. Rarely did you have the feeling he didn't know what he was doing. He was plainly qualified for office if darkly paranoid, antisemitic and fond of the bottle. Nixon in the midst of a controversial and bloody war started by his hardly less Machiavellian predecessors won his second term with a landslide painting the electoral map almost entirely red. He'd go on to reach out to China.

When he hacked into the Dem campaign it was an honest burglary by patriotic US citizens. Such dirty tricks were not unique to the Nixon campaign but they got caught. Tricky Dicky even then wasn't widely suspected of being in league with the Kremlin or out only to enrich himself and a bunch of Wall St cronies in office. When he lied about being involved to cover it up he was in big trouble.

The Donald on the other hand lies routinely and shamelessly. He appears unable to grasp the complex mechanics of US government. What the Nixon Presidency wasn't was an immense empty vanity project under an expensive combover like this one. I think Team Trumpski is already reeking like a fish rotting from the head.

Um. The law this bloke broke was brought in coz Nixon told the Vietnamese to walk away from the peace talks, coz when I am President i'll do you a better deal....US/Russia relations ain't killing people by the score on a daily basis.

 

[CRI]

I can remember the last days of Nixon.

A lot of people hated him but he was a very able politician and diplomat. Rarely did you have the feeling he didn't know what he was doing. He was plainly qualified for office if darkly paranoid, antisemitic and fond of the bottle. Nixon in the midst of a controversial and bloody war started by his hardly less Machiavellian predecessors won his second term with a landslide painting the electoral map almost entirely red. He'd go on to reach out to China.

When he hacked into the Dem campaign it was an honest burglary by patriotic US citizens. Such dirty tricks were not unique to the Nixon campaign but they got caught. Tricky Dicky even then wasn't widely suspected of being in league with the Kremlin or out only to enrich himself and a bunch of Wall St cronies in office. When he lied about being involved to cover it up he was in big trouble.

The Donald on the other hand lies routinely and shamelessly. He appears unable to grasp the complex mechanics of US government. What the Nixon Presidency wasn't was an immense empty vanity project under an expensive combover like this one. I think Team Trumpski is already reeking like a fish rotting from the head.

Nixon also swapped musk oxen for a couple of pandas.

 

[Raheem]

Nixon also swapped musk oxen for a couple of pandas.

I can understand from that footage why he set up the EPA.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

When he hacked into the Dem campaign it was an honest burglary by patriotic US citizens.

'Honest burglary': somehow, that seems a contradiction in terms.

Your recollections of Nixon are much more positive than mine.

 

[belboid]

Okay, so we have people who say they're socialists, but with no direct experience of living in a working class community in America dismissing the lived experience and insights of a person who grew up in one, because that person doesn't have enough "book learning" on socialism in America? Or perhaps it's because they failed to learn enough about "working class life and culture" from a song book or a BBC documentary?

At least I now think I "get" why many here still insist Sanders was "robbed" of the party nomination and would have trounced Trump given the chance, as well as the unwillingness to see the white supremacy woven into the fabric of the country. It's believing in a "dream" America that doesn't actually exist (as much as I wish it did myself!), and rejecting anything that might burst that bubble.

If it's any consolation, most Americans aren't great at facing facts that don't suit them. Trump's team manage to mobilse a huge swathe of white people who are also motivated by belief in a "Dream America," of a different sort.

Fucking deluded and dishonest.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

Trump tax return release plan blocked

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

Three months after the election, which he won, he’s still talking about those mythical fraudulent voters, and still calling Senator Elizabeth Warren “Pocahontas.” When he did so recently, in a room filled with senators, it got awkward; one attendee told Politico that “an uncomfortable silence” filled the room.

The Embarrassment of President Trump

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

Those uncomfortable silences accompany chatter about Trump’s state of mind, which is abetted by talk from a leaky White House and even from a Trump doctor, Harold Bornstein, who may have crossed a doctor-patient confidentiality line when he told the Times that Trump has been taking the drug finasteride, to preserve his unique haircut. Writing in the Washington Post, Daniel Marchalik, a urologist at the MedStar Washington Hospital Center, discussed what he called “potentially life-changing and irreversible side effects that may be associated with these medications,” and which may include sexual, physical, and psychological changes, pretty much none of them good. It’s hard to dismiss all of this.

Maybe, Samson-like, Trump's hair will be his ultimate undoing.

 

[CrabbedOne]

On Lawfare The Real Constitutional Danger

...
The U.S. government cannot work well to respond to society’s many complex problems—many things that need to get done cannot get done—without a minimally staffed, well-organized, energetic, and competent Executive branch. Right now we don’t have such an Executive branch.

We also need a strong, competent, well-organized Executive branch to keep us safe from threats abroad. Weakness and disorganization and uncertain fortitude in foreign and defense policy invite aggressive actions from adversaries. I have confidence in Mathis and Tillerson. But I also have little doubt that there is a connection between the President’s reckless foreign policy tweeting, his attacks on the intelligence community, and disarray in the National Security Council, on the one hand, and the recent North Korean and Iranian missile tests (among other recent provocations), on the other. Weak presidencies enhance the likelihood of a foreign policy crisis that weak presidents are ill-suited to redress, and indeed that often bring out the worse in a weak president—especially one who is think-skinned, uninformed, and impulsive.

I’m not yet panicked about the too-weak Trump presidency (though I am more worried about it than I am about a too-strong Trump presidency). I continue to hope that as senior cabinet officials assume office and as their departments get staffed and running, the influence of the seemingly reckless White House staff will recede, and we will see more competence and stability in the government. In that light, the unsteady Flynn’s resignation is very much a step in the right direction.

Bit of a sigh of relief from Lawfare. The US system of checks and balances appears to still have effect on Trumpismo.

I'd say it's more a matter of institutional inertia, Trump wanting to do really "stupid shit" and going about that ineptly in the face of an awful lot of sore losers who are willing him to fail. He's being undermined as Obama was but that comes with the job and he stupidly made a lot of enemies even in his own party.

Trump's so far an outsider adrift in the Oval Office with far too many warped shipmates like Flynn and Bannon dragging him down. Bullshit is powerful but can only get you so far. He doesn't appear to be like Nixon or LBJ a strong and devious President who can push the envelope within a well understood system and dramatically get his way but an awfully weak one. He's not a low dirty Boston Irish player like the wily, glamorously reckless boys of the Kennedy clan. He's not got the sand that comes with being a patrician Bush with their artfully scheming hangers on. He's not the coldly, donnish Obama from the rough house school of Chicago politics surrounded by Clinton goblin men. He's certainly not Reagan II. He's already looking much more a amoral 21st century version of Jimmy Carter right at the end of his first term, perplexed and on the ropes almost leaning into the Reagan sucker punch while Ted Kennedy stabs the poor bugger in the liver.

As such he is wearing a big "Kick me!" sign and so is America.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

MOSCOW (The Borowitz Report)—Russian President Vladimir Putin is “starting to get concerned” that the puppets he installed in the executive branch of the U.S. government “might not be up to the task at hand,” sources confirmed on Tuesday.

According to the sources, the flameout of the national-security adviser Michael Flynn was only the most recent event that has caused Putin to wonder if the figureheads he propelled into office are “just too dim-witted” to serve the goals of the Russian Federation.

“When you choose a puppet, you’re looking for a sweet spot,” one source close to Putin said. “You want to choose someone who’s dumb enough to be manipulated, but not so dumb that he can’t find the light switches.”

“Increasingly, it looks like we missed that sweet spot,” the source said.

Putin is reportedly willing to have a “wait and see” attitude with his current puppets, but, if things do not improve markedly, he will not hesitate to “make some changes,” the source said.

Putin Starting to Wonder If His Puppets Are Smart Enough to Pull This Off