What stupid shit has Trump done today?

[bimble]

I'm choosing to not believe it. By 2020 Trump will be gone I think one way or another. Currently you can double your money if you were to bet on him lasting out his first term.

 

[CRI]

On the spectrum of crimes and potential crimes Trump's committed in office, this one is small cheese.

Ah but with any previous president, if he were suspected of destroying a letter, tape of a conversation, electronic communication, etc. It would be headline news and mean an investigation. Hillary Clinton was only a candidate and the FBI spent months and millions probing allegations of missing emails.

Trump publicly breaks the law by deleting a tweet and it barely raises an eyebrow because it seems such a small violation in the context of his wider illegality. It shows how accustomed even those who don't support him have become with his corruption.

I can see how this has happened with the constant bombardment of corruption, extreme policies and lies not designed to decieve but to show power and control. (I.e "We know you know we lie. We don't care because you can't do anything about it.)

Still think it's important not to let what now seems 'small stuff' slide because that's exactly what authoritarian leaders want us to do.

 

[CRI]

On The Hill Bloomberg: '55 percent chance' Trump will win reelection
Unfortunately true despite the Reality TV show capers in the Whitehouse.

Fundamentally the Dems don't have any solutions to things like stagnation in the rustbelt that are any more credible than Trump's stream of chatty bullshit.

They may need to luck out like when Carter went all moral majority after Nixon fell or Perot ran and let the Clintons in or the banking system imploded and Obama's unlikely Hopey-Changey thing strolled to victory. The Dems have terrible record on winning back the Whitehouse if you think about it. JFK used to joke evil old Joe bought him the Whitehouse and he only won by a gnats cock after stealing much of the Republicans policies. FDR had the Great Depression to help him into Office. Even Wilson only won because the GOP split Taft-TDR.

It's possible, but it won't happen because the American people chose Trump and a GOP Congress.

It will be because the current rulers changed enough of the rules to ensure they would stay in power (e.g. voter suppression, Gerrymandering, intervention in processes, extreme and highly targeted social media astroturfing, etc.) Trump has bought something like 5m new followers on Twitter. Hmmm, wonder what they could be for?

They'll have changed enough laws and policies to prevent any reasonable challenge to their rule.

If they aren't confident they've changed enough to ensure a win, I wouldn't be surprised if they don't find a "reason" to suspend the 2020 elections.

 

[CRI]

White House says it has granted 14 ethics waivers to staff

Here's a good illustration of the above two posts.This will hardly be on the radar, filed in the "well, what did we expect from Trump?" bin. But it enables the administration to pursue its agenda unchecked and without accountability.

 

[CrabbedOne]

I suspect impeaching Trump over tardily deleting a mistyped Tweet would not play well with GOP voters. Though it would be only a little more petty than some of crimes the Clintons got endlessly pursued for. And let's not forget decades of mud slinging worked pretty well in terms of heading off that political dynasty.

If the Dems get a majority in Congress he's probably going to get investigated for abuse of office. That's going to fire up his base anyway as they plainly don't see much wrong with their beloved President using the office to enrich himself. Even if he loses in 2020 his base will probably put down to various vast conspiracies against him. They won't take it well and Trump would go down howling foul.

Tom Ricks was saying he regularly floats a question with US officers: what are the chances of "civil war" in the US in the next couple of years? That being modestly defined as political violence in the US causing 1K+ deaths PA. Says his impression is the soldiers have that running scarily high at about 55%.

 

[isvicthere?]

Ah but with any previous president, if he were suspected of destroying a letter, tape of a conversation, electronic communication, etc. It would be headline news and mean an investigation. Hillary Clinton was only a candidate and the FBI spent months and millions probing allegations of missing emails.

Trump publicly breaks the law by deleting a tweet and it barely raises an eyebrow because it seems such a small violation in the context of his wider illegality. It shows how accustomed even those who don't support him have become with his corruption.

I can see how this has happened with the constant bombardment of corruption, extreme policies and lies not designed to decieve but to show power and control. (I.e "We know you know we lie. We don't care because you can't do anything about it.)

Still think it's important not to let what now seems 'small stuff' slide because that's exactly what authoritarian leaders want us to do.

See also, this...

 

[DotCommunist]

pretty sure deleting a tweet is not a grave offense against all that is good and true. And forget Curtis, if you want a decently explained take on the new normal of capitalist realism you should read mark fisher

 

[chandlerp]

It's not a grave offence but it is a matter of Presidential Record and should not be deleted.

 

[DotCommunist]

this doesn't lessen the fact that Trump is a hideous product of late-stage capitalism and a complete boorish prick who should be choked with a golf ball

 

[Yossarian]

The White House says even the deleted tweets are being archived in accordance with the law. Pretty sure the FBI will be saving a copy as well.

 

[isvicthere?]

pretty sure deleting a tweet is not a grave offense against all that is good and true. And forget Curtis, if you want a decently explained take on the new normal of capitalist realism you should read mark fisher

Will check him out.

 

[bimble]

Fucking drumroll, again, the imbecile. Just maybe possibly he'll say he's decided to stay in Paris agreements just so that he can denounce the Fake News stories of yesterday?

 

[MightyTibberton]

Whatever you do don't read the breitbart comments under their joyous announcement that he's pulling out of Paris. It's kind of heartbreaking , the triumph of stupidity. MAGA.

Interestingly, and I might have read it here, Breitbart has gone plummeting down the visited-site rankings in the past couple of months. It's also being boycotted by more and more advertisers.

 

[MightyTibberton]

Fucking drumroll, again, the imbecile. Just maybe possibly he'll say he's decided to stay in Paris agreements just so that he can denounce the Fake News stories of yesterday?
View attachment 108119

Indeed! What a fuckwit this man is.

I think he will leave - and I hate that this stunt has dragged me into this will-he-won't-he game of bullshit! This is important and he treats it like a fucking gameshow. Do you have any illusion that this "decision making process" has involved meetings with top scientists and economic experts? No! No-one does. He floated it on Twitter to see if his gormless base shouted their "cuck off globalists" bollocks louder than anyone else.

The problem is - I saw reported yesterday - that he is getting more embattled and more isolated so is going to go further and further towards his base, who are raging nationalist fuckwits.

Fuck the Republican Party. Perhaps Chomsky was right!

 

[CrabbedOne]

On TSG IntelBrief: Playing Politics With Climate Change

...
Whereas the Trump administration’s calculation regarding the Paris agreement is based chiefly on political and economic concerns, the effects of climate change have for years been recognized by senior military and intelligence officials as a grave threat to U.S. national security. In 2010, the U.S. military’s Joint Forces Command identified climate change as one of the major security threats likely to confront the U.S. military in the next 25 years. According to that trajectory, a critical, climate-related event could be on the horizon within the next two decades. As recently as July 2015, a Department of Defense (DOD) report on the subject noted that “global climate change will aggravate problems such as poverty, social tensions, environmental degradation, ineffectual leadership and weak political institutions that threaten stability in a number of countries.” Since the last Quadrennial Defense Review in 2014—which clearly reiterated the threat posed by climate change—the U.S. military has accounted for climate change in all of its operational planning, highlighting the consensus among military leadership that the threat of climate change cannot be ignored. This consensus was reaffirmed in January 2017 by President Trump’s Secretary of Defense, James Mattis, when he noted in written testimony during his confirmation hearings that climate change “can be a driver of instability” and that the challenge it poses “requires a broader, whole-of-government response.” Thus, even if American lawmakers are willing to play politics with a threat that is enormous in scale, senior U.S. military officials have consistently emphasized the necessity of confronting the global challenge of climate change.

That the U.S. military continues to plan for climate change as a national security threat casts serious doubt on the wisdom of withdrawing from the Paris agreement, or undermining the fight against climate change more broadly. Aside from the prospective withdrawal from the Paris accord, the Trump administration’s proposed budget includes massive cuts to agencies and programs that monitor climate change, which are critical to the U.S. military’s ability to adapt its operating doctrine to the uncertain demands of a changing climate. Thus, the decision to scale back these programs could potentially undermine the U.S. military’s ability to mitigate the risks that climate change poses to U.S. national security.

The instability wrought by climate change is already evident in places like Yemen, Somalia, Nigeria and South Sudan where recurring drought and famine continue to exacerbate long-running conflicts. Competition over diminishing resources and climate-related humanitarian crises serve to further undermine the stability of central governments in such countries, leaving populations vulnerable to exploitation by terror groups, militants, and other non-state actors. Should the U.S.—the world’s second-largest emitter of greenhouse gasses—seek to undermine the global effort to combat climate change, such conflicts are likely to deteriorate, putting greater demands on a U.S. national security apparatus that is already stretched thin.

The DoD's reality based position on Climate Change still seems to be in place despite a largely denialist administration.

 

[pengaleng]

fuck all that affects me

 

[MightyTibberton]

Ho ho ho!

Nigel Farage is 'person of interest' in FBI investigation into Trump and Russia

 

[NoXion]

fuck all that affects me

Climate change affects everyone, actually.

 

[pengaleng]

Climate change affects everyone, actually.

good job I will be dead before the day after tomorrow then

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

The White House says even the deleted tweets are being archived in accordance with the law. Pretty sure the FBI will be saving a copy as well.

You can also bet that his political opposition is archiving as well.

 

[8den]

Ah but with any previous president, if he were suspected of destroying a letter, tape of a conversation, electronic communication, etc. It would be headline news and mean an investigation. Hillary Clinton was only a candidate and the FBI spent months and millions probing allegations of missing emails.

Trump publicly breaks the law by deleting a tweet and it barely raises an eyebrow because it seems such a small violation in the context of his wider illegality. It shows how accustomed even those who don't support him have become with his corruption.

I can see how this has happened with the constant bombardment of corruption, extreme policies and lies not designed to decieve but to show power and control. (I.e "We know you know we lie. We don't care because you can't do anything about it.)

Still think it's important not to let what now seems 'small stuff' slide because that's exactly what authoritarian leaders want us to do.

No no I completely agree, all Trump's tweet's are technically government property and it's a felony to delete them.But If Trump goes down for that it'd be like Capone getting done for jaywalking.

In other news.

Nigel Farage is 'person of interest' in FBI investigation into Trump and Russia

I don't buy it Farage a person of interest? He's a more like a fucking interminable pub bore.

 

[8den]

You an also bet that his political opposition is archiving as well.

Remember no matter what Trump gets a Presidental Library. All those tweets, 6ft tall probably etched in marble with gold leaf.

 

[ohmyliver]

Nigel Farage is 'person of interest' in FBI investigation into Trump and Russia

I don't buy it Farage a person of interest? He's a more like a fucking interminable pub bore.

bet he's regretting being papped coming out of the Ecuadorian embassy. Wonder if the FBI can help him to remember what he talked to Assange about, even if he 'couldn't remember' seconds after leaving the embassy.

 

[CrabbedOne]

Trump's Presidential Library! It's doubtful the man has ever read a book.

 

[8den]

bet he's regretting being papped coming out of the Ecuadorian embassy. Wonder if the FBI can help him to remember what he talked to Assange about, even if he 'couldn't remember' seconds after leaving the embassy.

John Oliver's "Stupid Watergate" analogy is bang on. It's like the Watergate scandal only everyone involved is a monumental fucking moron.

 

[chandlerp]

Trump's Presidential Library will have a ballpit and soft play area

 

[8den]

Trump's Presidential Library! It's doubtful the man has ever read a book.

We know he's owned at least one book.

Spoiler: You'll never guess

It's Mein Kampf


Donald Trump 'kept book of Adolf Hitler's speeches in his bedside cabinet and may have read it for inspiration'

 

[8den]

Trump's Presidential Library will have a ballpit and soft play area

And A wall of presidential hand prints.

 

[Libertad]

And A wall of presidential hand prints.

In his own shit.

 

[8den]

In his own shit.

I was thinking more along the lines of a wall of bronzed hand prints with Trump's recorded ranting "James Gardfield, Tiny hands, like a girl, terrible President", "Lincoln huge hands, tremendous president, he freed the slaves", and me "perfectly normal sized hands right, just normal, okay normal".