What stupid shit has Trump done today?

[JuanTwoThree]

He doesn't need to know he's working for the Russians. The garrulous and not particularly bright diplomat who tells his Russian mate too much and gets ideas planted in his brain by the Russian mate is an intelligence asset. Bear in mind this particular mate is ex-KGB!

 

[teqniq]

Someone have given the Russians a pot and they are stirring.

Essentially yes. Regardless of whether there is actually any substance to the claim that he is a Russian asset, the Russians are going to make hay with any available opportunity presented to them. Some US military type said as much the other day.

 

[Don Troooomp]

He refuses to say what happened in the Putin meetings, and lies about keeping qiet

Trump denies hiding detail of Putin talks

US President Donald Trump has denied hiding details of conversations with Russia's Vladimir Putin, saying he is "not keeping anything under wraps".

The Washington Post alleges that on at least one occasion in 2017 he took away his interpreter's notes after talks.

And there is reportedly no record of his one-on-one, two-hour discussion with Mr Putin in Helsinki last year.

Mr Trump's relations with Russia before his election in 2016 are the subject of an ongoing federal investigation.

 

[chandlerp]

this thread sums it up for me, click through to read the rest of it

 

[tim]

A tad exaggerated, this is the sort of crap that opponents should focus on.

 

[a_chap]

Or this...

 

[ferrelhadley]

Essentially yes. Regardless of whether there is actually any substance to the claim that he is a Russian asset, the Russians are going to make hay with any available opportunity presented to them. Some US military type said as much the other day.

"All tactics no strategy". Russia's involvement, whatever the extent it may be, seems to have no long term goals and risks decades of isolation from the West. It does nothing to advance the Russian economy or any real military benefit other than a couple of years of misrule in Washington. Their real geopolitical threat is far more likely to come from an increasingly assertive China and there America could be more of an ally.


Perhaps the only goal was keeping climate action at bay and the price of oil high for a few more years. Other suggestions of a long term plan are welcome.

 

[CRI]

"All tactics no strategy". Russia's involvement, whatever the extent it may be, seems to have no long term goals and risks decades of isolation from the West. It does nothing to advance the Russian economy or any real military benefit other than a couple of years of misrule in Washington. Their real geopolitical threat is far more likely to come from an increasingly assertive China and there America could be more of an ally.


Perhaps the only goal was keeping climate action at bay and the price of oil high for a few more years. Other suggestions of a long term plan are welcome.

Removing sanctions on Russia, perhaps?

 

[ferrelhadley]

Removing sanctions on Russia, perhaps?

Until the Dems got back in?
Did they really think the whole operation would fly beneath the radar? And what was their analysis on the risks of a backlash from hawkish republicans had he not got in and the whole thing been exposed?
If that was their goal then how does the costs justify the risks given Trump was hardly a shoe in?

 

[gosub]

A tad exaggerated, this is the sort of crap that opponents should focus on.

But its true. A large police presence a a White House fence reports of him grabbing women by the pussy are 1000% down in the last two years

 

[CRI]

Until the Dems got back in?
Did they really think the whole operation would fly beneath the radar? And what was their analysis on the risks of a backlash from hawkish republicans had he not got in and the whole thing been exposed?
If that was their goal then how does the costs justify the risks given Trump was hardly a shoe in?

Even if Clinton had become president, she still might have been dealing with a hostile GOP controlled House and Senate, or perhaps controlling one of those. They wouldn't have entertained a single policy from the Clinton Administration. Since at least 2010, the GOP has been on a path toward trying to establish a one party state in the US, and apart from John McCain, who was pretty isolated and now dead, I can't think of any Republicans who'd have been "hawkish" about Russia, should the "operation" have been exposed. All I've seen has been denial, flat out lies, minimising or projection (it was Clinton collaborating with Russia, not us) coming from Republicans.

Also, it seems there were enough people in the FBI at least that were bent, and senior people in the US Treasury who were on the take, not to mention all the legislators with unusually close ties to Oligarchs and "friends" of the Putin government, that it might have never come out, or if it did, enough influential people could cast doubt so that the "exposure" would have been a damp squib.

Maybe they were just really confident that the strategy would work. It did work after all.

 

[CRI]

On another note . . .

Government worker forced to ration insulin because of ongoing shutdown

Mallory Lorge, who suffers from Type 1 diabetes, is forced to ration her insulin and look at her possessions to decide what she can sell to pay down her bills because she isn’t receiving a paycheck during the record-long government shutdown.

Lorge, who lives in the small town of River Falls, Wisconsin, said she has two vials of insulin left in her fridge, but she is rationing them because she can no longer afford the $300 copay.

Her blood sugar rose to a high level last week, but she said she felt forced to ignore it. Instead, she went to bed.

“When it gets that high you can go into diabetic ketoacidosis, you can go into a coma,” she said. “I can’t afford to go to the ER. I can’t afford anything. I just went to bed and hoped I’d wake up.”

...soon after returning from her honeymoon, Lorge, 31, fell ill with double pneumonia and had to be hospitalized for sepsis and respiratory failure. Because her medical condition was complicated by her diabetes, she went on medical leave and put her plans on hold.

Then on Dec. 22, she and her husband, who works for a tool-making company, received two more financial punches: the government partially shut down and the first of her medical bills arrived. Lorge and her husband were forced to consolidate their debt in a $40,000 loan, and she canceled all her medical appointments.

Fifty-eight percent of Americans have fewer than $1,000 in savings, according to a series of surveys GOBankingRates has conducted since 2015.

 

[CRI]

Until the Dems got back in?
Did they really think the whole operation would fly beneath the radar? And what was their analysis on the risks of a backlash from hawkish republicans had he not got in and the whole thing been exposed?
If that was their goal then how does the costs justify the risks given Trump was hardly a shoe in?

You might find this interesting.

Thread by @selectedwisdom: "Regarding this NYT story from this weekend, imagine you are a FBI Agent working Russian counterintelligence in 2016 and you witness the foll […]"

 

[Don Troooomp]

Oops - Let's hope this works out the right way - Trump hammered

Carl Bernstein: Draft of Mueller's final report says Trump helped Putin 'destabilize' the US

Now the reporter of Watergate fame is indicating that he knows where the Mueller investigation is going to end up, and it's not looking good for Trump.

Basically, he's saying Trump is a traitor, and the investigation is going to publish just that.

 

[Don Troooomp]

He's let Russians off all sorts from illegal activity to attacking foreign boats and detaining them. He's doing his best to destroy NATO and the EU, and the secret meeting between the silly orange tit and Putin are fuel on the fire.
Trump is either terrifically stupid and not working for the Russians, or terrifically stupid and working for the Russians.

Take your pick, but the world needs rid of him

 

[NoXion]

He's let Russians off all sorts from illegal activity to attacking foreign boats and detaining them. He's doing his best to destroy NATO and the EU, and the secret meeting between the silly orange tit and Putin are fuel on the fire.
Trump is either terrifically stupid and not working for the Russians, or terrifically stupid and working for the Russians.

Take your pick, but the world needs rid of him

Indeed. We can't have US/NATO dominance being threatened, now can we?

 

[a_chap]

Specifically - and only yesterday - Trump's threatened NATO ally Turkey by saying (sorry, Tweeting ) that he "will devastate Turkey economically if they hit Kurds".

Not punish, devastate.

 

[Marshall Brown]

I think its an anti-Trump group here?

 

[NoXion]

Specifically - and only yesterday - Trump's threatened NATO ally Turkey by saying (sorry, Tweeting ) that he "will devastate Turkey economically if they hit Kurds".

Not punish, devastate.

The Sleeping Giant has been punching itself in the face for a couple of years now.

 

[a_chap]

I think its an anti-Trump group here?

Only inasmuch as we're representative of the human race.

 

[tim]

I think its an anti-Trump group here?

We'll be equally happy to turn against you

 

[steveo87]

Only inasmuch as we're representative of the human race.

Apart from those of us who are Lizards, init.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

I think its an anti-Trump group here?

 

[Nylock]

I think its an anti-Trump group here?

What gave it away? The lack of casual racism or the lack of MAGA tat for sale in a javascript carousel at the top of every page?

 

[gosub]

The Sleeping Giant has been punching itself in the face for a couple of years now.

Its been kicking the Kurds in the slats for decades though. But the orgin of that problem was British cartographers post WW1, them and a predisposition towards divide and rule

 

[eagle]

His supporters should be ashamed of themselves. But who knows, perhaps they are pretending to be ashamed.

 

[taffboy gwyrdd]

The Moscovian Candidate conspiracy theory, whilst not as quite absurd as the birther fantasies is a pointless cul-de-sac for the opposition to Trump to be travelling down. Fight the man on his vile policies and absurd statements not on collusion rumours. Russian money is ubiquitous in Western political campaigns.

Important to fight on all fronts with a solid alternative program. While we should never underestimate the Dem potential to drop the ball, they seem ok at this at the mo.

Statements ain’t illegal. Illegal policies get struck down, and have been.

Conspiracy is illegal. The evidence is in. Russia fucking around everywhere else (and US doing it too) are not an excuse under law.

Can’t speak for other constitutions, we don’t even have one, but officials and elected reps in the US have a legal duty to hold Trump accountable for the Russia stuff, the story of which goes back a very long way.

 

[a_chap]

"If Elizabeth Warren, often referred to by me as Pocahontas, did this commercial from Bighorn or Wounded Knee instead of her kitchen, with her husband dressed in full Indian garb, it would have been a smash!"

Fuck me, that's ugly even for him.

 

[spring-peeper]

Guess What Trump Is Serving Football Champ Clemson In White House Visit

Trump on Monday boasted that he’ll be serving offerings from burger chains to the national champion Tigers (15-0), who are visiting the White House to be honored after defeating the University of Alabama in the title game on Jan. 7.

“I think we’re going to serve McDonald’s, Wendy’s and Burger Kings with some pizza,” he said of the menu planned for the Monday gathering. “I really mean it. It will be interesting. And I would think that’s their favorite food. So we’ll see what happens. But they’re coming tonight, the national champions, subject to the weather.”

 

[Yossarian]

Guess What Trump Is Serving Football Champ Clemson In White House Visit

He only thinks burgers and pizza are their favourite food because his advisers talked him out of serving fried chicken.