Donald Trump Presidency discussion Thread VII (threadbanned users listed in OP)

everlast75

https://twitter.com/MarshallCohen/status/1252023300550770689?s=19

Republicans. The law and order party.

Disgusting

Itssoeasy

I've tuned on CNN and say his interaction with their reporter and Jesus he really is a mess. It's a matter of public record that he praised china and their handling of the virus so he can be annoyed about it going pear shaped but he said it.

Itssoeasy

I'm glad I didn't watch his press conference ramblings( I was watching old episodes of who wants to be a millionaire btw) and just watching the clips CNN are playing are nuts. Don lemon doesn't like trump.

BonnieSituation

Itssoeasy wrote: »

I'm glad I didn't watch his press conference ramblings( I was watching old episodes of who wants to be a millionaire btw) and just watching the clips CNN are playing are nuts. Don lemon doesn't like trump.

I could have guessed til the end of time what you were watching instead and I never would have said that. I never thought WWTBAM would be "rewatchable"!

Mental Mickey

No sane person would be a fan of him.

Outlaw Pete

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Calling the FBI scum because of general Flynn who he says was innocent... Despite the fact he pleaded guilty.

He didn't call the FBI as a whole scum (as you imply) he was referring to a specific cohort, mostly who were in powerful positions and abused them. He also said "No bigger fan of the FBI than me; at the level of people that really matter" - in others words: the ones that don't lie and cheat to try and ..... well, I'm sure John Durham be making it clear just what it is felt motivated these people.

As for Flynn pleading guilty? Please.

Flynn's lawyer says deal with feds will help retired general withdraw guilty plea

An attorney for Michael Flynn says he’s reached an agreement with the federal government in which the attorneys who represented her client in the Russian collusion investigation will be interviewed -- a major step in the former national security adviser's effort to withdraw his guilty plea in connection with the probe.

In late-January, Flynn’s legal team filed a motion to withdraw the retired general’s guilty plea on the basis of ineffective assistance of counsel.

Powell argued that Covington Burling was “laboring under a severe conflict of interest” when it advised its client to plead guilty.

Course all the above was pretty much known for years and often labelled as "right wing conspiracy theories" on this thread, or an incarnation of it at least.

The chickens are coming home to roost.

Caegan

Outlaw Pete wrote: »

The chickens are coming home to roost.

No Americans are dieing and Trump is pushing more to sickness if they're lucky and death if they aren't. If the Coronavirus had a human face it's Trump's.

Supporters and defender's of him at this stage are either ill informed or trolls. I know what I lean towards.

Outlaw Pete

He was asked a question about Paul Manafort. He answered it.

Blame the reporter for not focusing on America's battle with Coronavirus.

Carfacemandog

Someone has expanded on this considerably in twitter by doing a Lester Freeman and following the money.

https://mobile.twitter.com/File411/status/1251890463130497029

Gbear wrote: »

https://www.reddit.com/r/maryland/comments/g3niq3/i_simply_cannot_believe_that_people_are/fnstpyl/

An interesting thread on Reddit.

We already know that the a DeVos associated conservative group organised the idiotic gridlocking protest in Michigan, but there's a bit of fairly casual sleuthin' by a guy on Reddit who found that there were numerous instances of similar events organised across the US, with copy and pasted information, as well as domains registered for websites linked to on these events all being registered in a short period of time with the same company based in Florida.

It would suggest that there's quite a substantial astroturfing operation going on that's presumably designed to either reopen businesses at the behest of corporate sponsors, is a foreign interference campaign by the likes of Russia to further damage the state of civil society in the US, or perhaps a combination of both.

Another part of the strange misinformation dystopia we live in... it doesn't require super secret servers in Mozambique. It doesn't need hackers typing on two keyboards at once. It's petty, low effort, barely hidden social media posting that can be done by someone without any formal education getting paid minimum wage. All it takes is to have a little bit of financial backing and the impetus to do something ****ty to a load of people in a way that you can probably disassociate from if you're the person doing it, because it's kinda still their fault for turning up to these events.

BonnieSituation

That was a great Twitter read. Everyone should read it.

Manic Moran

Itssoeasy wrote: »

The second amendment is the least of anyone's problems in the US right now. What have they done in Virginia on guns ?

A slew of gun control measures were signed by the governor last week. The three most egregious were shot down after the mass protests a few months ago, five were signed.

As you can imagine, the court cases are pending. Federal and State courts both, given that Virginia's Constitution states "That a well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the proper, natural, and safe defense of a free state, therefore, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed". My guess is that most of the measures will pass muster.

Think how stupid the average American is, now realize that half of them are stupider than that.

FFS, at least argue with some rationality. You may not like dominant American politics, but the people living here aren't idiots.

Earlier in this thread I asked why everybody was getting cheques rather than getting the lodgements put into their account instead as it seemed a bit inefficient in 2020, but it is ‘Murica anyway…

It comes down to how folks filed their taxes. Folks who associated a bank account for direct transfer when their taxes were filed get a direct cash transfer back. I'll wager that's most people, as it's much faster than waiting on a check for their annual refund. Such bank transfers from the government started being credited last week.

I think I'm waiting on a cheque, personally. I changed tax accountants this year, and in a misunderstanding, we submitted without filling out the bank transfer paperwork. They say they will also look at 2018 returns which in my case has account information, but that may just be for those who hadn't filed the 2019 one.

Promoting panic gun buying

Interestingly, it's not his base which is doing all the gun buying right now. Us enthusiastic gun owners (a group which I assume includes most of his base) already have our guns. The vast majority of those folks you saw standing in line were first-time buyers. There have been a few vents in the news and on social media videos by gun shop owners and employees about them because they don't understand how the laws work and no, they can't pay more money to get the gun faster, and no, the gun store employees didn't vote for the laws that they're complaining to the gun store employees about, and so on and so forth.

Unless you're referring to something he said in one of his press conferences, in which case I missed it given I don't listen to them.

Chips Lovell

Mod Note

Three people banned, one person carded for attacks on other posters. I don't know what it is about this thread that seems to prevent people from having a civil conversation with one and other, but at this stage we're going to have to start thread or forum banning people who persist in breaking the rules.

Debate the topic at hand. If you're just here to have a go at other posters, don't post.

Thanks

listermint

Manic Moran wrote: »

A slew of gun control measures were signed by the governor last week. The three most egregious were shot down after the mass protests a few months ago, five were signed.

As you can imagine, the court cases are pending. Federal and State courts both, given that Virginia's Constitution states "That a well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the proper, natural, and safe defense of a free state, therefore, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed". My guess is that most of the measures will pass muster.



FFS, at least argue with some rationality. You may not like dominant American politics, but the people living here aren't idiots.



It comes down to how folks filed their taxes. Folks who associated a bank account for direct transfer when their taxes were filed get a direct cash transfer back. I'll wager that's most people, as it's much faster than waiting on a check for their annual refund. Such bank transfers from the government started being credited last week.

I think I'm waiting on a cheque, personally. I changed tax accountants this year, and in a misunderstanding, we submitted without filling out the bank transfer paperwork. They say they will also look at 2018 returns which in my case has account information, but that may just be for those who hadn't filed the 2019 one.



Interestingly, it's not his base which is doing all the gun buying right now. Us enthusiastic gun owners (a group which I assume includes most of his base) already have our guns. The vast majority of those folks you saw standing in line were first-time buyers. There have been a few vents in the news and on social media videos by gun shop owners and employees about them because they don't understand how the laws work and no, they can't pay more money to get the gun faster, and no, the gun store employees didn't vote for the laws that they're complaining to the gun store employees about, and so on and so forth.

Unless you're referring to something he said in one of his press conferences, in which case I missed it given I don't listen to them.

At least argue with some rationality you say.


American the only country on the entire planet that's this planet earth , some call it.

Where there has been a shooting, you know with those weapons you hold so dear in a school. Yes that's a school where children go to get educated. Every march for the past 18 years except for this year.


Now let's discuss rationale and stupidity.

No doubt you'll fire statistics back about how plausible it is for white middle class kids to get shot in school etc etc.

I consider the supporters who hold their weapons so dear to their chest supporting a president who's killing people with policy to be just as bad as that president.



Rationale and stupidity is it... Lol. This is comedy gold.

Quin_Dub

banie01 wrote: »

This is the level some Trump supporters are at!

Imagine having such a poor grasp of fiscal policy that you think Trump is actually the source of those stimulus cheques!!!

https://twitter.com/cheristandsup/status/1251550550384087040?s=19

That's why it was so important for him to have his signature on them.

Some will go full on and believe it came direct from his own pocket , but another larger group will believe that it was an Instruction from the President and not a payment that he and the GOP fought about and didn't actually want to give to them.

aloyisious

Manic Moran wrote: »

A slew of gun control measures were signed by the governor last week. The three most egregious were shot down after the mass protests a few months ago, five were signed.

As you can imagine, the court cases are pending. Federal and State courts both, given that Virginia's Constitution states "That a well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the proper, natural, and safe defense of a free state, therefore, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed". My guess is that most of the measures will pass muster

It's good that one has the right to keep and bear arms to defend ones property [read homestead] and life, as they were needed urgently at times of unrest and troublesome creatures. The key point is the people keeping and bearing arms were supposed to be part of a well regulated militia. I don't see the well regulated militia in the armed people walking around amongst a crowd of mostly unarmed people. I'd have the National Guard units composed of the citizens of the individual states in mind instead.

Be that as it may, the supposed reason for the protests should be an affront to any sensible adult thinking about what the rambling president is trying to feed into their minds.

Leroy42

Outlaw Pete wrote: »

He didn't call the FBI as a whole scum (as you imply) he was referring to a specific cohort, mostly who were in powerful positions and abused them. He also said "No bigger fan of the FBI than me; at the level of people that really matter" - in others words: the ones that don't lie and cheat to try and ..... well, I'm sure John Durham be making it clear just what it is felt motivated these people.

So Pete, are you in agreement that people that lie and cheat are rightfully classified as scum?

Pedro K

Manic Moran wrote: »

A slew of gun control measures were signed by the governor last week. The three most egregious were shot down after the mass protests a few months ago, five were signed.

Only in America, could gun control measures be perceived as egregious.

valoren

kowloon wrote: »

I think it was Penn Jillette who said when he was on Celebrity Apprentice they would just film him rambling for a few hours and edit it down to a few mins of something more comprehensible.

Even worse was that he would "You're Fired" someone based on his venerable gut instinct and, given that the contestant was perfectly competent during the task, then the editors would need to use their skills to make them appear incompetent to justify Trumps decision.

pixelburp

valoren wrote: »

Even worse was that he would "You're Fired" someone based on his venerable gut instinct and, given that the contestant was perfectly competent during the task, then the editors would need to use their skills to make them appear incompetent to justify Trumps decision.

When you extrapolate that to his Presidency, you can see the clear thematic link. Presumably Trump got wind of the TV editors' need to backfill his executive decisions as genius and the Source of Truth. Look now to his tenure as CiC and you see the same scenario: blathered announcements and decisions, requiring hasty clarifications and / or doubling down by his WH staff.

kowloon

valoren wrote: »

Even worse was that he would "You're Fired" someone based on his venerable gut instinct..

That really seems to be his thing. I think it feeds very well into that ruthless businessman persona. They had him calling out his catchphrase for the camera, he seemed to enjoy it.

hetuzozaho

Was interesting watching CNN asking about Trump's praising of XI back in February.


February 23rd:

Q Do you think President Xi should be doing something different?

THE PRESIDENT: No, I think President Xi is working very, very hard. I spoke to him. He’s working very hard. I think he’s doing a very good job. It’s a big problem. But President Xi loves his country. He’s working very hard to solve the problem and he will solve the problem. Okay?

Link: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-marine-one-departure-83/

Last night's task force meeting:

Q On President Xi, you now talk about the missteps that China made early on in this crisis and how it put you — put the United States behind the curve. So when you repeatedly praised Xi in January and February — you said he will “solve the problem.” You said he was doing a “great job.” Were you duped by President Xi?

He could have admitted he made mistakes but was working hard with all states, Cuomo a good example, think some great news from Cuomo about no one passing away due to lack of beds or ventilators which IMO is great, but instead went with:

THE PRESIDENT: No, no, no, no. I made a deal that’s phenomenal for the United States. No, you know who was duped? You —

Q This is after the deal.

THE PRESIDENT: You and the Obama administration were duped for years because China was ripping off this country. Like in the history of any country, nobody has been ripped off like the United States by China — and many other countries. And we stop it. And we’ve done —

Q (Inaudible) why you praised him at the time?

THE PRESIDENT: And we’ve done — we’ve done a deal where they’re paying us 250 — they are buying 250 — they didn’t do anything for us. You know, we didn’t even have a deal. It was so bad —

Q This is after the deal. These comments are after the deal.

THE PRESIDENT: No, no. No, no. It’s — it is about a deal, because the deal started a long time ago, before anybody heard about this. The deal was finished a number of months ago. Very happy — I was very happy. I hope they were happy.

Billions of dollars came in, in tariffs. Billions of dollars. They’re going to be purchasing billions. And then, all of a sudden, long after that, I find out about this.

And I told you —

Q Right. But why, on February 23rd —

THE PRESIDENT: I told you I’m not —

Q — did you say, “I think he’s doing a very good job —

THE PRESIDENT: Listen. Listen, CNN.

Q — it’s a big problem, but” —

THE PRESIDENT: Listen, CNN. I told you I’m not happy about it. And this was after the deal. So we have this wonderful deal. And I was very — nobody has been tougher before the deal ever, on China, than Trump. Then I made a deal. I was very happy with the deal. It’s a great deal. Great for our farmers. The farmers have been paid a fortune already. Then what happened —

Q Was it a mistake to take his word for it?

THE PRESIDENT: Then what happened — no mistake. We made a great deal.

Now I find out after the deal — after the deal, not — after the deal —

Q Right. I’m talking about February 23rd.

THE PRESIDENT: I find out that I’m not happy — you people are so pathetic at CNN. Let me just tell you —

Q I have the quote here from February 23rd.

THE PRESIDENT: Sure. I was very happy with the deal, very happy with everything. Then we find out about the plague, right? The plague. And since we found out about that, I’m not happy.

But I closed it up long before Pelosi —

Q Right. This is after the —

THE PRESIDENT: Listen. Long before Pelosi. You know, she was having parties in San Francisco. “Let’s all go to Chinatown.” And that was a long time after the first —

Q This was after the travel restriction, sir. This was on February 23rd.

THE PRESIDENT: Go ahead, please.

Q The first — the first of the month is next week —

THE PRESIDENT: That’s why your ratings are so bad, because you’re pathetic.

Go ahead. Let’s go.

Q I’m reading you your quote, sir.

THE PRESIDENT: Your ratings are terrible. You got to get back to real news.

Link: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-vice-president-pence-members-coronavirus-task-force-press-briefing-28/

Impossible to talk to him.
Even when presented with actual verbatim quotes by himself he will dismiss them. Potentially call you a fake reporter
Very rude and ignorant way to converse with people I feel.

StringerBell

Wouldn't it be refreshing for one of the reporters to fall on the sword, just call him out for what he is and create a clip that can go viral and be used for campaign ads from now till November?

Midlife

Manic Moran wrote: »

A slew of gun control measures were signed by the governor last week. The three most egregious were shot down after the mass protests a few months ago, five were signed.

As you can imagine, the court cases are pending. Federal and State courts both, given that Virginia's Constitution states "That a well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the proper, natural, and safe defense of a free state, therefore, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed". My guess is that most of the measures will pass muster.



FFS, at least argue with some rationality. You may not like dominant American politics, but the people living here aren't idiots.



It comes down to how folks filed their taxes. Folks who associated a bank account for direct transfer when their taxes were filed get a direct cash transfer back. I'll wager that's most people, as it's much faster than waiting on a check for their annual refund. Such bank transfers from the government started being credited last week.

I think I'm waiting on a cheque, personally. I changed tax accountants this year, and in a misunderstanding, we submitted without filling out the bank transfer paperwork. They say they will also look at 2018 returns which in my case has account information, but that may just be for those who hadn't filed the 2019 one.



Interestingly, it's not his base which is doing all the gun buying right now. Us enthusiastic gun owners (a group which I assume includes most of his base) already have our guns. The vast majority of those folks you saw standing in line were first-time buyers. There have been a few vents in the news and on social media videos by gun shop owners and employees about them because they don't understand how the laws work and no, they can't pay more money to get the gun faster, and no, the gun store employees didn't vote for the laws that they're complaining to the gun store employees about, and so on and so forth.

Unless you're referring to something he said in one of his press conferences, in which case I missed it given I don't listen to them.

My problem with all of this is that basically it comes down to

'I really like guns'

But no one admits that.

'I really like guns and I don't put the school shooting etc above the fact that I really like guns'

It doesn't sound good so we get the old line about the need for a well-regulated militia.

But really you just like owning guns.

Edited to include: just in case the argument is about the importance of the constitution, I'd ask about things such as guantanamo, strikesnnotbaporovednby Congress etc.

There are grey areas here but I'm sure that many of those who hole up the importance of the constitution as a document as a defence of their right to bear arms equally don't give a **** what rights it provides to others. Again just a badly masked 'we really like guns'

listermint

Midlife wrote: »

My problem with all of this is that basically it comes down to

'I really like guns'

But no one admits that.

'I really like guns and I don't put the school shooting etc above the fact that I really like guns'

It doesn't sound good so we get the old line about the need for a well-regulated militia.

But really you just like owning guns.

In a nut shell this. And many are prepared to support or defend anyone that maintains this on their ballot sheet.

Its mad like, i really like DIY but if thousands of people were killed by drills and the government said we have to regulate drills heavily so that background checks and safety checks and requirements are done . Then.... id give up my drills and apply to get them back with any / all safety requirements met.

Itssoeasy

I feel a pain in my head re reading that transcript from last night. There's no train of thought with this guy. He heard china and mentioned the deal with china which has nothing to do with coronavirus. He brought up Obama which was not relevant. He then decided that Chinatown in San Francisco was in some way relevant but again it's like he just says things in a scattergun way and it's up to people listening to pick through the stuff on the wall. It's like his brain is a badly scratched CD or an ipod stuck on shuffle. That's my opinion from having read the transcript above and others of his I've read.

Tell me how

Outlaw Pete wrote: »

He was asked a question about Paul Manafort. He answered it.

Blame the reporter for not focusing on America's battle with Coronavirus.

Always on point Pete.

Igotadose

Wow that interaction with Weijia Jang was rapey. "Where are you from?" "Stay Calm, be quiet."
Always on the assault when interacting with women reporters (unless they're the inoffensive questioners from OAN or Fox.)

You could just see him looking to get physical. She praises him about what he did in January (so, he smiles and looks down), then when she asks the question starting with "Many Americans are saying" (hah! A favored Trump line), his expression changes and he starts waving his hands "Who are you with? Who are you with?" He interrupts her question with "Who are you with?" 3 times. Like, what does it matter who she is with? She's on the approved list. But, she's female and time to put her on the back foot.

It only goes downhill from there. He waves his hands about "Banning China from coming in." She interrupts, "Chinese nationals, not Americans." He pushes (with his hands) "Nice and easy. Relax." (Creepy!)

Then he goes off on "21 people in the room and I was the only one who wanted to ban." Like, what room? What people? What's he talking about? As the Times article last weekend had, even Peter Navarro had sent him a report showing the millions who would die and the trillions it would cost well before the end of January and how important it was to restrict inward travel from China.


Then the deflection to "How many had died before I issued my ban." When she pointed out in March he knew it was a pandemic, and was asking him (I think) whether in February he knew it was going to spread, he's back to pushing with his hands and "Keep your voice down please." And finally the sneering "Your should say thank you very much for good judgement."

Creepy.

Igotadose

StringerBell wrote: »

Wouldn't it be refreshing for one of the reporters to fall on the sword, just call him out for what he is and create a clip that can go viral and be used for campaign ads from now till November?

Better they stand as one, turn their backs and walk out at the start of Q&A.

Might be hard to persuade the right-wing outlets to come along.

Carfacemandog

Igotadose wrote: »

Better they stand as one, turn their backs and walk out at the start of Q&A.

Might be hard to persuade the right-wing outlets to come along.

I have heard that bandied around before, and I think it is an absolutely dreadful idea that would lead to these becoming nothing more than a circle jerk like we saw on the white house lawn a year or so ago - only with huge chunks of the world watching as they create a scripted false narrative.

What they have been doing lately - and how it took them four years to figure it out is completely beyond me - is what they should be doing. Do not take his bald faced lies at face value. Do not just merrily move on go the next question after complete and utter non answers of lies. Literally just keep asking the question in quick, simple, repeated bursts that he can't interrupt so easily and watch him melt down completely as he has done without fail.

Seemingly everything he does he has criticised others for (whether they did said thing or not), and more often than not he says one thing then a while later says the exact opposite and claims that was how he always felt (see hoax/I knew before everyone), and sometimes flips back again... Because he ultimately is weak, mentally and especially emotionally. As we are seeing there is nothing he hates more than hearing what he said be repeated back at him verbatim and being asked to explain them.

While his supporters will also decry it as unfair because they ultimately know deep down what an utter mess he is, this is what the media is job is supposed to be, and hopefully they actually stick to it over the next 6 months.

Tell me how

Igotadose wrote: »

Better they stand as one, turn their backs and walk out at the start of Q&A.

Might be hard to persuade the right-wing outlets to come along.

That would be manna from heaven for Trump as he could claim that those who participated in such an event were prejudiced against him and allow only Fox, OAN, Brietbart etc in to the room and the narrative would change completely.