What stupid shit has Trump done today?

[a_chap]

I've been thinking the last few weeks about what the endgame is for this shutdown. It doesn't seem to be a border wall because he's just not going to get that through Congress at the moment. To paraphrase Dana Carvey Congress is "Not gonna do it." It's certainly not an emergency in the sense that Trump means it. Its an emergency for people trapped by his policies, but he's not going ever acknowledge that. Anyone who says it is has just bought into the propaganda, or tries to convince me that I should. Here is my list of what the possibilities are. Its not all inclusive:

* Trying to "prove" that the US doesn't need "big government."
* Trying to dismantle social programs like food stamps, section 8 housing, Medicare, and social security from the inside.
* Trying to dismantle all environmental regulation by making sure there's no one on duty to enforce it
* He's doing it to scuttle the Mueller investigation. Mueller needs to run all his charges past a grand jury. With the shutdown the grand jury was dis-empaneled until the end of the shutdown. Recalling it may be difficult.
* He's a Russian agent just trying to cause as much damage as he can.
* He's going to use the shutdown as an excuse to declare martial law and "build that wall:
* He's going to use the shutdown as an excuse to declare martial law and remain in power as a dictator indefinitely--basically the end of the Republic.
* He's too fucking dumb to understand the results.
* He just likes pissing matches.

Anyone have an opinion? Even if you think Trump isn't smart enough to cook up any of the above, we know he's surrounded by people who'd happily use him to their own ends.

1-3, possibly 4 and definitely the last one.

 

[chandlerp]

I've been thinking the last few weeks about what the endgame is for this shutdown. It doesn't seem to be a border wall because he's just not going to get that through Congress at the moment. To paraphrase Dana Carvey Congress is "Not gonna do it." It's certainly not an emergency in the sense that Trump means it. Its an emergency for people trapped by his policies, but he's not going ever acknowledge that. Anyone who says it is has just bought into the propaganda, or tries to convince me that I should. Here is my list of what the possibilities are. Its not all inclusive:

* Trying to "prove" that the US doesn't need "big government."
* Trying to dismantle social programs like food stamps, section 8 housing, Medicare, and social security from the inside.
* Trying to dismantle all environmental regulation by making sure there's no one on duty to enforce it
* He's doing it to scuttle the Mueller investigation. Mueller needs to run all his charges past a grand jury. With the shutdown the grand jury was dis-empaneled until the end of the shutdown. Recalling it may be difficult.
* He's a Russian agent just trying to cause as much damage as he can.
* He's going to use the shutdown as an excuse to declare martial law and "build that wall:
* He's going to use the shutdown as an excuse to declare martial law and remain in power as a dictator indefinitely--basically the end of the Republic.
* He's too fucking dumb to understand the results.
* He just likes pissing matches.

Anyone have an opinion? Even if you think Trump isn't smart enough to cook up any of the above, we know he's surrounded by people who'd happily use him to their own ends.

the bit I've highlighted I reckon

 

[spring-peeper]

U.S. shutdown could end up costing $6B by Friday — more than Trump wants for the border wall

The record-long U.S. government shutdown, that is now in week five, could soon end up costing the economy more than the $5.7 billion that U.S. President Donald Trump is demanding for his border wall, according to one report.


The partial government shutdown started on Dec. 22, and if it continues to Friday, then S&P Global Ratings (a financial rating agency) predicts it will cost the economy $6 billion.

“We estimated that this shutdown could shave approximately $1.2 billion off real GDP in the quarter for each week that part of the government is closed,” Beth Ann Bovino, S&P’s chief U.S. economist, said in an earlier report.

“That may seem like pennies for the world’s biggest economy, but it means a lot to those workers trying to cover their household costs without their paycheques.”

 

[spring-peeper]

Trump's new slogan - it rhymes - such a clever boy!!!

 

[Pickman's model]

Build a wall
Just put trump on the other side of it

 

[a_chap]

Build a wall
Just put trump on the other side of under it

FTFY

 

[MickiQ]

I've been thinking the last few weeks about what the endgame is for this shutdown. It doesn't seem to be a border wall because he's just not going to get that through Congress at the moment. To paraphrase Dana Carvey Congress is "Not gonna do it." It's certainly not an emergency in the sense that Trump means it. Its an emergency for people trapped by his policies, but he's not going ever acknowledge that. Anyone who says it is has just bought into the propaganda, or tries to convince me that I should. Here is my list of what the possibilities are. Its not all inclusive:

* Trying to "prove" that the US doesn't need "big government."
* Trying to dismantle social programs like food stamps, section 8 housing, Medicare, and social security from the inside.
* Trying to dismantle all environmental regulation by making sure there's no one on duty to enforce it
* He's doing it to scuttle the Mueller investigation. Mueller needs to run all his charges past a grand jury. With the shutdown the grand jury was dis-empaneled until the end of the shutdown. Recalling it may be difficult.
* He's a Russian agent just trying to cause as much damage as he can.
* He's going to use the shutdown as an excuse to declare martial law and "build that wall:
* He's going to use the shutdown as an excuse to declare martial law and remain in power as a dictator indefinitely--basically the end of the Republic.
* He's too fucking dumb to understand the results.
* He just likes pissing matches.

Anyone have an opinion? Even if you think Trump isn't smart enough to cook up any of the above, we know he's surrounded by people who'd happily use him to their own ends.

I think it is just the last two, I don' t think Trump has any great plan to further the ultra-right, he doesn't care about them any more than he cares about the ultra-left. Trump cares only for Donald J Trump, he is an egotistical moron with the emotional control of a spoilt toddler stamping his feet because he can't have what he wants.
I agree he is surrounded by people who try to use him to further their own ends, I think their success is very mixed because he is convinced of his own genius and infallibility and only listens when they stroke his ego and it has turned out he is too unpredictable to be easily manipulated.

Trump reportedly offered NASA 'all the money you could ever need' to land on Mars during his presidency

I can totally believe this, The Apollo program and Kennedy's speech are defining moments in history, they will remembered for centuries, even after the USA has gone. Trump wants that, he craves praise and fame even after he's dead.
Same for his behaviour towards the Norks, he doesn't truly care about peace on the Korean Penisula, he wants a Nobel Prize, the black guy got one so he reckons he deservers one as well.
He's just an awful human being.

 

[twentythreedom]

I think it is just the last two, I don' t think Trump has any great plan to further the ultra-right, he doesn't care about them any more than he cares about the ultra-left. Trump cares only for Donald J Trump, he is an egotistical moron with the emotional control of a spoilt toddler stamping his feet because he can't have what he wants.
I agree he is surrounded by people who try to use him to further their own ends, I think their success is very mixed because he is convinced of his own genius and infallibility and only listens when they stroke his ego and it has turned out he is too unpredictable to be easily manipulated.

I can totally believe this, The Apollo program and Kennedy's speech are defining moments in history, they will remembered for centuries, even after the USA has gone. Trump wants that, he craves praise and fame even after he's dead.
Same for his behaviour towards the Norks, he doesn't truly care about peace on the Korean Penisula, he wants a Nobel Prize, the black guy got one so he reckons he deservers one as well.
He's just an awful human being.

Pretty much nailed it there I reckon

 

[two sheds]

I can totally believe this, The Apollo program and Kennedy's speech are defining moments in history, they will remembered for centuries, even after the USA has gone. Trump wants that, he craves praise and fame even after he's dead.

Can't be too difficult. All he needs is a large hangar in a desert, some backdrops and a few props.

Worked before.

 

[CRI]

Petulant wee fucker he is.

He won't be able to enter the chamber of the House of Representatives, unless the House passes a resolution to permit this, and it won't.

 

[CRI]

Oh good!

House Democrats probe how Jared Kushner got security clearance

"The Committee on Oversight and Reform is launching an in-depth investigation of the security clearance process at the White House and Transition Team in response to grave breaches of national security at the highest levels of the Trump administration," Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, the chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, said in a letter to the White House obtained by NBC News.

Last February, NBC News reported that more than 130 political appointees working in the Executive Office of the President did not have permanent security clearances as of November 2017, including the president's daughter Ivanka; Kushner, her husband; and the president's top legal counsel. Kushner has since obtained a clearance, according to his lawyer, despite reports that he has been targeted for manipulation by foreign governments.

"For the past two years, I have sought information with other Committee Members about a series of extremely troubling incidents regarding the security clearances of some of President Trump's top aides, but the White House has refused to provide the information we requested, often ignoring our requests completely," Cummings said.

Democrats have vowed to issue subpoenas if the Trump administration fails to turn over documents in response to requests from committee chairman.

 

[tim]

Petulant wee fucker he is.

He won't be able to enter the chamber of the House of Representatives, unless the House passes a resolution to permit this, and it won't.

View attachment 159583

He's getting better all the time! In his last letter to her he misspelled "Madam"

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

I think it is just the last two, I don' t think Trump has any great plan to further the ultra-right, he doesn't care about them any more than he cares about the ultra-left. Trump cares only for Donald J Trump, he is an egotistical moron with the emotional control of a spoilt toddler stamping his feet because he can't have what he wants.
I agree he is surrounded by people who try to use him to further their own ends, I think their success is very mixed because he is convinced of his own genius and infallibility and only listens when they stroke his ego and it has turned out he is too unpredictable to be easily manipulated.

I think there's more to it than that because he's so easily manipulated. If you look at what Stephen Miller has proposed for a far back as his highschool newspaper, his fingerprints are all over it. His letter to Pelosi cancelling her flight sounded like his writing to me. Steve Bannon's prints are on this as well. There's an agenda behind this beyond being a asshole, I'm just not sure what. Getting to be an asshole is just icing on the cake.

 

[CRI]

I've been thinking the last few weeks about what the endgame is for this shutdown. It doesn't seem to be a border wall because he's just not going to get that through Congress at the moment. To paraphrase Dana Carvey Congress is "Not gonna do it." It's certainly not an emergency in the sense that Trump means it. Its an emergency for people trapped by his policies, but he's not going ever acknowledge that. Anyone who says it is has just bought into the propaganda, or tries to convince me that I should. Here is my list of what the possibilities are. Its not all inclusive:

* Trying to "prove" that the US doesn't need "big government."
* Trying to dismantle social programs like food stamps, section 8 housing, Medicare, and social security from the inside.
* Trying to dismantle all environmental regulation by making sure there's no one on duty to enforce it
* He's doing it to scuttle the Mueller investigation. Mueller needs to run all his charges past a grand jury. With the shutdown the grand jury was dis-empaneled until the end of the shutdown. Recalling it may be difficult.
* He's a Russian agent just trying to cause as much damage as he can.
* He's going to use the shutdown as an excuse to declare martial law and "build that wall:
* He's going to use the shutdown as an excuse to declare martial law and remain in power as a dictator indefinitely--basically the end of the Republic.
* He's too fucking dumb to understand the results.
* He just likes pissing matches.

Anyone have an opinion? Even if you think Trump isn't smart enough to cook up any of the above, we know he's surrounded by people who'd happily use him to their own ends.

I'd suggest most of the above factors are involved. One thing we can say for sure is that getting his wall isn't the real endgame for the shutdown. He's just using it as a device - demanding something ludicrously expensive, unfit for purpose and impossible to achieve, and something the Dem controlled US House of Representative will never agree to it. Their failure to yield to his demands can be used as a rationale for keeping government shut indefinitely, if it suits his purposes.

I still think Sarah Kendzior has been spot on about his motivations and goals. He wanted to be President for two reasons - to accumulate more power and wealth and to be "beyond the law" for previous and future illegal activities. We've seen how he's used the role to enrich himself, his family and his associates. He wants to monetise more of the nations assets, and the shut down helps that effort. For example, national parks have been trashed, so he'll say it's too costly to fix them and better to just sell them off. He'll also insist everything was "just fine" while all the government employees were fuloughed, so posts and departments can be axed or sold off. I'm sure the military and Homeland Security are also earmarked for privatisation, with Erik Prince, the brother of Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos, primed and ready to take that on.

I don't think he's driven by ideology, but he co-opts the trappings of Evangelical Christianity when it suits him to keep his supporters on side. I doubt he's bothered about abortion or transgender servicemen and women, but he'll move to ban both to keep those supporters sweet.

He's shown he genuinely doesn't care if people are suffering, starving or dying, unless he can leverage it for his own benefit. For example, he showcases the handful of families who had a loved one killed by an immigrant to emphasise that immigrants are a threat. However, he ignores or denies the many more deaths resulting from his policies, like the thousands who died as a result of minimal and bungled efforts at relief after the storms destroyed so much of Puerto Rico.

Keeping people confused, distressed and in conflict with one another is also a good strategy for getting away with whatever he wants while they're arguing against each other.

He doesn't care what Americans think about what he's doing now, nor what his legacy will be. He doesn't really care whether the USA as a nation continues to exist. He doesn't really see nation states as important, and has closer connections with and regard for rich and powerful people in other nations than he does for citizens of the USA. I think he does want to pass his crown on to one of his children, probably Ivanka, but I wouldn't be surprised if he dropped one of his kids like a hot potato if they did something he didn't want them to do.

I don't think he's quite as stupid as many think he is - perhaps conniving more than intelligent. Whether or not he's a pawn being directed by others in his regime or in other countries, I'm not sure, but the outcome is pretty much the same either way. Asset stripping of the US, chaos and distruction in its wake and further enrichment of the Trump family and their associates within and outside the US.

To quote Kendzior again from this past weekend, "It's an international crime cartel masquerading as a government." If we think of it that way, sadly, it all makes more sense.

 

[MickiQ]

I think there's more to it than that because he's so easily manipulated. If you look at what Stephen Miller has proposed for a far back as his highschool newspaper, his fingerprints are all over it. His letter to Pelosi cancelling her flight sounded like his writing to me. Steve Bannon's prints are on this as well. There's an agenda behind this beyond being a asshole, I'm just not sure what. Getting to be an asshole is just icing on the cake.

Valid point but I don't think so, he clearly shows a tendency to agree with the last person he talked to, but he's not consistent other than his own ego. Whilst it is easy for people to manipulate him into doing something they want him to do, it is just as easy for the next person to come in and manipulate him into doing the exact opposite, which I think creates the impression that he has some master plan where he is really just totally self-centred and thicker than pigshit.

 

[MickiQ]

I'd suggest most of the above factors are involved. One thing we can say for sure is that getting his wall isn't the real endgame for the shutdown. He's just using it as a device - demanding something ludicrously expensive, unfit for purpose and impossible to achieve, and something the Dem controlled US House of Representative will never agree to it. Their failure to yield to his demands can be used as a rationale for keeping government shut indefinitely, if it suits his purposes.

I still think Sarah Kendzior has been spot on about his motivations and goals. He wanted to be President for two reasons - to accumulate more power and wealth and to be "beyond the law" for previous and future illegal activities. We've seen how he's used the role to enrich himself, his family and his associates. He wants to monetise more of the nations assets, and the shut down helps that effort. For example, national parks have been trashed, so he'll say it's too costly to fix them and better to just sell them off. He'll also insist everything was "just fine" while all the government employees were fuloughed, so posts and departments can be axed or sold off. I'm sure the military and Homeland Security are also earmarked for privatisation, with Erik Prince, the brother of Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos, primed and ready to take that on.

I don't think he's driven by ideology, but he co-opts the trappings of Evangelical Christianity when it suits him to keep his supporters on side. I doubt he's bothered about abortion or transgender servicemen and women, but he'll move to ban both to keep those supporters sweet.

He's shown he genuinely doesn't care if people are suffering, starving or dying, unless he can leverage it for his own benefit. For example, he showcases the handful of families who had a loved one killed by an immigrant to emphasise that immigrants are a threat. However, he ignores or denies the many more deaths resulting from his policies, like the thousands who died as a result of minimal and bungled efforts at relief after the storms destroyed so much of Puerto Rico.

Keeping people confused, distressed and in conflict with one another is also a good strategy for getting away with whatever he wants while they're arguing against each other.

He doesn't care what Americans think about what he's doing now, nor what his legacy will be. He doesn't really care whether the USA as a nation continues to exist. He doesn't really see nation states as important, and has closer connections with and regard for rich and powerful people in other nations than he does for citizens of the USA. I think he does want to pass his crown on to one of his children, probably Ivanka, but I wouldn't be surprised if he dropped one of his kids like a hot potato if they did something he didn't want them to do.

I don't think he's quite as stupid as many think he is - perhaps conniving more than intelligent. Whether or not he's a pawn being directed by others in his regime or in other countries, I'm not sure, but the outcome is pretty much the same either way. Asset stripping of the US, chaos and distruction in its wake and further enrichment of the Trump family and their associates within and outside the US.

To quote Kendzior again from this past weekend, "It's an international crime cartel masquerading as a government." If we think of it that way, sadly, it all makes more sense.

I suspect that a lot of the Republican Party hold that agenda but Trump probably doesn't personally hold much in the way of any strong political views.
Trump's presidency kind of makes think of the scene in Blazing Saddles where the villain Hedley Lamarr is trying to get the Governor to sign various dodgy documents but the Governor keeps getting distracted by his secretary's cleavage.

 

[a_chap]

Petulant wee fucker he is.

He won't be able to enter the chamber of the House of Representatives, unless the House passes a resolution to permit this, and it won't.

View attachment 159583

A game of Tit-for-tat anyone?

 

[ferrelhadley]

Petulant wee fucker he is.

Its not petulance, he has called her bluff. She cannot exclude him on the fiction of security concerns. If she is to exclude him she will have to drop down a step, closer to him and do it out of polite spite. He is trying to drag Pelosi of her moral high horse and more into his level.

Vox ran a nice bit on how he does this with the press.



Her support may be more squeamish about trashing norms than his. Its a very logical move from where he currently stands.

 

[CRI]

Its not petulance, he has called her bluff. She cannot exclude him on the fiction of security concerns. If she is to exclude him she will have to drop down a step, closer to him and do it out of polite spite. He is trying to drag Pelosi of her moral high horse and more into his level.

Vox ran a nice bit on how he does this with the press.



Her support may be more squeamish about trashing norms than his. Its a very logical move from where he currently stands.

But, the Speaker of the House is the one upholding the norms. It's Trump who is trashing them.

Yes, he is trying to "take her down a peg or two," because he absolutely despises women who don't follow his commandments (to be fair, I think he hates women generally, with the possible exception of his daughter.)

But, she's standing up to him. He'll be as pissed as Hell about this, but I don't think he'll go all out for an altercation, trying to barge his way in, or whatever. He'll come up with some last minute reason why he's "decided" to avoid the confrontation rather than face the chance he might get publicly faced down by a woman. He'll deliver it somewhere else, some other time.

Important caveat here though. I think Trump and his associates WOULD like to impose martial law and sweep away the few remaining political safeguards and structures of civil society. I don't think he's quite "there" yet though, but a hell of a lot can happen in a week, so if that's close enough in his sights, yup, there could be a coup of some sort, storming the US Congress building and declaring he's taking over the legislative branch of government due to some manufactured emergency or other. We'll see.

Edit: Just saw comment from CSPAN, which broadcasts Congressional proceedings. A bit like the President is the only person who can use the nuclear codes, the Speaker of the House controls the video and audio recordings within the chamber.

I suppose Trump could burst in with a bunch of his armed henchmen, and get one of them to record him speaking on Facebook Live or something. That I think would be in the realms of a "coup" though.

Just imagining her turning off all the lights and the heating and leaving Trump there to shout into the cold, dark void.

 

[CRI]

Negotiating an international nuclear arms agreement via Twitter? Cool.

 

[CRI]

Yup, this fits.



In better news though, the Teamsters Union is demonstrating inside one of the Senate Office buildings about the shutdown.

 

[Supine]

Threatening folk

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

Yup, this fits.

And that is why I think there's method to the madness. It may be that Trump supplies the madness and someone else supplies the method, but this happens way more often than pure chance would predict. There is an agenda there somewhere that is very stealthily being pursued to our detriment.

 

[spring-peeper]

like stormy daniels - thugs approached her in a parking lot....

@threatening folks post

 

[spring-peeper]

.

 

[CRI]

And that is why I think there's method to the madness. It may be that Trump supplies the madness and someone else supplies the method, but this happens way more often than pure chance would predict. There is an agenda there somewhere that is very stealthily being pursued to our detriment.

Yup! I think it's tempting to believe Trump is just bananas, or thick because that's less scary than realising that it may all be part of a genuine strategy. Whether it's him, or people in his "circle," there most definitely is an agenda. At this point, I'm thinking it's worth trying anything to thwart it because you know, the outcome won't be good.

 

[CRI]

like stormy daniels - thugs approached her in a parking lot....

@threatening folks post

Not liking these because threats are good, but yeah, there's a pattern. Again, if you think of Trump and Co. as part of an international criminal cartel, threatening witnesses is par for the course.

 

[CRI]

Its not petulance, he has called her bluff. She cannot exclude him on the fiction of security concerns. If she is to exclude him she will have to drop down a step, closer to him and do it out of polite spite. He is trying to drag Pelosi of her moral high horse and more into his level.

Vox ran a nice bit on how he does this with the press.



Her support may be more squeamish about trashing norms than his. Its a very logical move from where he currently stands.

He caved though. You don't fuck with Speaker Pelosi.

 

[Yossarian]

Unusual for Trump to back down like this - wonder what he's got up his sleeve. "Prerogative" is spelled correctly so this is probably one of those tweets from a social media team instead of the man himself.

 

[CRI]

Unusual for Trump to back down like this - wonder what he's got up his sleeve. "Prerogative" is spelled correctly so this is probably one of those tweets from a social media team instead of the man himself.

Oh definitely not written by him and I'm sure he'll come up with some "face saving" move to make up for it. Maybe he actually listened to an advisor who explained how it could backfire on him. Dunno. But the Speaker of the House was absolutely not going to back down.