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

aloyisious

serfboard wrote: »

I don't think that the Democrats will pick Bloomberg. Here is what Elizabeth Warren said about him the other night in the debate:

I think that takes care of the Bloomberg candidacy.

My worry would be if, having lost the Democrat nomination, he takes an independent run at the Presidency, and thereby hands the election to Trump.

Another poster/debater here [Briany] holds that Don and Mike are, in effect, two sides of the one coin, in that they want to look after their own, the monied people and ensure a particular US version of monetarism keeps control of the US financial system. The word Socialism attached to a presidential front-runner is anathema to them both. If Briany is correct, Mike Bloomberg would be happy at Bernie losing, regardless as to whether he or Don won - though obviously a win for Mike would be the icing on the cake. Does the hate run deeper between Don and Mike than it does between Don and any of the Dem candidates?

IMO, an important question is whether Mike is liked, disliked, distrusted or hated by the GOP elders etc. I can't figure out a way to get an answer to that I could be sure was at least 90% true and honest. I assume that Mike would be acceptable to them despite the attached Dem tag if Don and Bernie both lost as he would be averse to socialist changes to the tax system.

https://gothamist.com/news/mike-bloombergs-ymbiotic-relationship-nys-gop-we-agreed-him-so-many-issues

aloyisious

Apparently Don tweeted today about the briefing given to the House senate committee by his former DNI Maguire calling the part of the briefing about Russia wanting him to win in Nov a hoax. "another misinformation campaign is being launched by the Democrats that Russia prefers me to any of the Do Nothing Democrat Candidates who still have been unable to, after two weeks, count their votes in Iowa. Hoax No 2".

It seems he understood [or was given to understand] the briefing was given to Alan Schiff alone and did not know that Republican members of the committee, incl Devin Nunes, were at the briefing and challenged Shelby Pierson on the briefings conclusion. Trump blew up at Maguire in the Oval Office last week over what the president perceived as staff disloyalty, citing Pierson's briefing.

eire4

aloyisious wrote: »

Apparently Don tweeted today about the briefing given to the House senate committee by his former DNI Maguire calling the part of the briefing about Russia wanting him to win in Nov a hoax. "another misinformation campaign is being launched by the Democrats that Russia prefers me to any of the Do Nothing Democrat Candidates who still have been unable to, after two weeks, count their votes in Iowa. Hoax No 2".

It seems he understood [or was given to understand] the briefing was given to Alan Schiff alone and did not know that Republican members of the committee, incl Devin Nunes, were at the briefing and challenged Shelby Pierson on the briefings conclusion. Trump blew up at Maguire in the Oval Office last week over what the president perceived as staff disloyalty, citing Pierson's briefing.

What is truly most disgusting IMHO about this latest fiasco is that once again the Republican Party has made it clear that power is all they care about and they are happy to have the assistance of a nasty authoritarian state that is an enemy of the US in staying in power. Then again it is also clear that the current Republican part is pretty authoritarian itself and happy to push the US in that direction. Sad state of affairs but fundamentally given the US is the most powerful nation on earth still a very serious danger to the world as well is the US's lurch further and further towards the far right and authoritarianism.

Frank Bullitt

https://twitter.com/funder/status/1230846129161605120

Now he wants to impeach Obama...I don't quite get that.

PropJoe10

Gintonious wrote: »

https://twitter.com/funder/status/1230846129161605120

Now he wants to impeach Obama...I don't quite get that.

Not sure what to say about that at all. it's all quite beyond belief.

everlast75

PropJoe10 wrote: »

Not sure what to say about that at all. it's all quite beyond belief.

I'm going out on a limb here. I know this is absolutely out of left field.. but perhaps... and stick with me... just maybe... he is an utter moron? I mean objectively - what if the explanation here is his I.Q. is negligible. That would account for an awful lot of his behaviour.

SeamusFX

Caquas wrote: »

Almost everything people posting here say about the Blagojevich case is wrong because they are relying on Irish media who just rehash the NYT or CNN.

Blagojevich has served eight years of a 14 year sentence yet he never personally profited from any of the things he was charged with. More importantly, he won an important case in the US Supreme Court which quashed his convictions in respect of some of the most serious charges. Yet, when the question of sentencing was remitted to the lower court, the judge simply reaffirmed the 14 year sentence! This is blatantly unjust but the political establishment hadn’t the guts to condemn it. Justice was done in commuting his sentence.

He never tried to sell Obama’s Senate seat. He simply wasn’t giving it away to Obama’s nominee. Now consider the farrago of democracy by which we fill almost all our Senate seats. Do you think the County Councillors give their precious votes to the first candidate who asks. If we had the FBI running things here, every politician who looked sideways at them would be in jail. Which might sound great until they come after you.

Do you think Watergate was just chance? Mark Felt.

This is his lawyer, a prominent left-wing defender of unpopular cases.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/2019/8/12/20802161/blagojevich-donald-trump-commute-prison-sentence-barack-obama-sentate-seat-valerie-jarrett

The sentence was excessive even by cruel US standards and the behaviour of the FBI and the justice system was egregious.

Who in Ireland has actually spent 8 years in jail for any offence other than murder?

Sorry, but you’re wrong, maybe you should stop re-hashing lies and propaganda from Fox News. Blagojevich didn’t sell the seat because he was caught, but he did try to sell the seat. There are recordings of him looking for the highest bidder. If you try to rob a bank, but get caught before getting any money, you’re still a bank robber and you’ll still go to jail. You might be a very bad and unsuccessful bank robber, but you’re still a bank robber. This guy even tried to steal from a children’s hospital, that’s probably why Trump likes him, that and the fact he was on The Apprentice.

SimonTemplar

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1230875946334318593

Caps lock aside, after three years he still doesn't understand how tariffs work.

Christy42

So Trump believes in socialism for some and does not know who the US president is.

In case anyone thought the Republican party was better than Trump they are actively attempting to trick people in California to give up their data and to not fill in the census form

https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2020-02-20/gop-is-accused-of-sending-misleading-census-forms?_amp=true&__twitter_impression=true

Note the last time they did this the law was changed so they couldn't out census on the envelope so now they have restricted it to the mailer itself. Since this has happened before it is pretty obvious that they are attempting to mimic the census. This allows them to get a higher response rate and more data as people think they are filling out the census and to disrupt the census due next month.

Note: this has happened before, ended up with the law changing to try and (unsuccessfully) prevent them from doing it again and they still copy the style of the census. This is absolutely very intentionally attempting to be underhanded.

Caquas

aloyisious wrote: »

The fact that the actual prison term given was made up of concurrent sentences for the convictions might help people understand the "severity" of the sentence awarded by the judge. Trial 1 [the mistrial] was for 24 charges, of which he was convicted of 1 before the mistrial [due to the jury being unable to decide on the other 23] was declared, trial 2 was for fewer charges, 17 of which were found proven by its jury.

Your mention of "What crime if he took the seat himself or if he wanted his nominee to do his political bidding?" is reminiscent of the ultimate "so what" position taken by Don's defence team at his senate trial when they eventually owned up to the fact that Don did try to use his office to make a Quid Pro Quo deal with Ukraine's president.

On the contrary, it would be easier to accept 14 years if it comprised a series of consecutive sentences whereas it was, in fact, a single sentence with a couple of concurrent sentences thrown in for good measure.

My comment is not “so what”, it’s what crime? The Appeal Court agrees with me on those counts.

Caquas

SeamusFX wrote: »

Sorry, but you’re wrong, maybe you should stop re-hashing lies and propaganda from Fox News. Blagojevich didn’t sell the seat because he was caught, but he did try to sell the seat. There are recordings of him looking for the highest bidder. If you try to rob a bank, but get caught before getting any money, you’re still a bank robber and you’ll still go to jail. You might be a very bad and unsuccessful bank robber, but you’re still a bank robber. This guy even tried to steal from a children’s hospital, that’s probably why Trump likes him, that and the fact he was on The Apprentice.

Strange, then, that the US Court of Appeals agreed with me on Obama’s seat.
https://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/appeals-court-overturns-part-of-rod-blagojevichs-corruption-convictions-120421

Those judges must be watching too much Fox News.

Steal from the Children’s Hospital? Come on, this was a typical example of American political fundraising but he was wiretapped. How do you think the big donors operate?

I don’t defend all his actions but 8 years is surely enough.

Incidentally, how much will we (Irish taxpayers) be contributing to Sinn Fein next year?

aloyisious

Caquas wrote: »

Strange, then, that the US Court of Appeals agreed with me on Obama’s seat.

Steal from the Children’s Hospital? Come on, this was a typical example of American political fundraising but he was wiretapped. How do you think the big donors operate?

I don’t defend all his actions but 8 years is surely enough.

Does your non-approval of all his actions include his efforts to get money from the hospital management staffer in return for letting the funding set aside for the hospital proceed to the hospital. I'm assuming that the funding was either US Govt or State Govt supplied and not from his own pocket. I see in the reference to the appeal court ruling, it stated that it would not include any reduction of the prison term sentence as part of the successful appeal.

How does any possible funding from the Irish taxpayer to Sinn Fein have relevance to this debate?

Giving a series of consecutive sentences, each one covering a separate offence, would mean an overall sentence way longer than a group of concurrent sentences bunched together [with its total term equalling the longest offence tariff] and lead to a strong chance that an appeals court would rule that to be an abuse of system leading it to throwing out the whole case. The trial conviction covered 17 different charges, each with its own tariff. In any case, that's moot as the US issue is settled.

SeamusFX

Caquas wrote: »

Strange, then, that the US Court of Appeals agreed with me on Obama’s seat.
https://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/appeals-court-overturns-part-of-rod-blagojevichs-corruption-convictions-120421

Those judges must be watching too much Fox News.

Steal from the Children’s Hospital? Come on, this was a typical example of American political fundraising but he was wiretapped. How do you think the big donors operate?

I don’t defend all his actions but 8 years is surely enough.

Incidentally, how much will we (Irish taxpayers) be contributing to Sinn Fein next year?

Did you read your link, it said “The 7th Circuit said there was evidence Blagojevich had sought money”, plus there are recordings of him asking for money. I don’t care what anyone says, if there’s a recording of someone of asking for money for something they shouldn’t get money for, then they’re guilty. Face it, Blagojevich is guilty as hell and if it wasn’t for the fact he was on The Apprentice and/or promised Trump money, he’d still be rotting in a cell!

As far as Sinn Fein, they have nothing to do with this, plus we won’t be contributing to them as FF and FG will block them anyway they can. Not because of IRA links, but to protect themselves. Whenever SF starts to get some traction, RTE starts dragging up old IRA stories and forgetting about SF’s contribution to the peace process. I’d rather my taxes support SF social programs, then give socialist handouts to banks and millionaires.

FrostyJack

Caquas wrote: »

Strange, then, that the US Court of Appeals agreed with me on Obama’s seat.
https://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/appeals-court-overturns-part-of-rod-blagojevichs-corruption-convictions-120421

Those judges must be watching too much Fox News.

Steal from the Children’s Hospital? Come on, this was a typical example of American political fundraising but he was wiretapped. How do you think the big donors operate?

I don’t defend all his actions but 8 years is surely enough.

Incidentally, how much will we (Irish taxpayers) be contributing to Sinn Fein next year?

That is 3 times now you brought up Irish politics, a totally non related issue to the case of Blagojevich, you would swear you were using a tried and tested method to deflect.

He was caught, but other people aren't so that is okay, right? See the example given above about the bank robbery. He was attempting to stop funding to a children's hospital, which I am sure would result in injury or loss of life had it come to pass, like withholding funds for weapons in the field, all for no other reason than personal political gain, I see why you chose this hill to die on. If he is a criminal

he is

, then so is Trump.

Itssoeasy

The firing on the DNI because his team was honest about the ongoing carry on by the Russians is telling. The GOP in the senate have blocked numerous election security bills passed by the house to protect American elections. Go back over thirty years ago imagine if Ronald Reagan was in bed this way with the then Soviet Union to the way that trump is doing ? I didn’t and wouldn’t happen.

For a guy in trump who claims he’s innocent of any misdeeds against him trump is doing things that don’t give off an air of innocence.

FrostyJack

Itssoeasy wrote: »

The firing on the DNI because his team was honest about the ongoing carry on by the Russians is telling. The GOP in the senate have blocked numerous election security bills passed by the house to protect American elections. Go back over thirty years ago imagine if Ronald Reagan was in bed this way with the then Soviet Union to the way that trump is doing ? I didn’t and wouldn’t happen.

The problem is if Reagan was reanimated now and came out of the grave speaking in tongues about the dangers of Russia, Hannity and co would say he was always part of the deep state and taking liberal socialist money etc. That is where the party is at now. The die is cast.

Call Me Jimmy

What would be the maximally disruptive thing for Russia to say before 2020?

We love Donald Trump!

Even though Bernie would be many times more helpful to them geopolitically, nah they wouldn't actually want that. They want Orange Man!

Call Me Jimmy

It's funny that they push the Bernie one too. We're seeing a pattern here...

listermint

Call Me Jimmy wrote: »

What would be the maximally disruptive thing for Russia to say before 2020?

We love Donald Trump!

Even though Bernie would be many times more helpful to them geopolitically, nah they wouldn't actually want that. They want Orange Man!

They are pushing a huge amount of pro Bernie fake twitter accounts. Accounts that furnish outrageous left material and really pro Bernie to the point of being extreme. The purpose of which is to put people off voting Bernie. Because the media has picked up on these fake accounts as being actually Bernie supporters and using them as an example of what's to come.

They want to retain trump and hacking Bernie down is one way to do that

everlast75

Call Me Jimmy wrote: »

It's funny that they push the Bernie one too. We're seeing a pattern here...

Its very clear what the Russian tactic is here. Push Trump because he is their stooge and push the most divisive candidate on the left.

3 things -

1) In Bernie's defence, he renounced Russia's interference (Trump welcomed it and refuses to acknowledge it)

2) Bernie sometimes is his own worst enemy when people accuse him of being divisive. Here is an example now why Russia want him to do well - it'll split the Dem vote - which benefits Trump

https://twitter.com/BernieSanders/status/1231021453270769664?s=19

3) Russia bet Bernie is the best person for trump to run against. The message is simple - Capitalism Vs Socialism.
(Mind you - every poll I've seen says Bernie beats Trump)

greenfield21

Good article on why Putin wants a democrat

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.forbes.com/sites/ellenrwald/2020/02/21/putin-cant-be-rooting-for-trump-why-russia-needs-a-democrat-win/amp/

StringerBell

SimonTemplar wrote: »

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1230875946334318593

Caps lock aside, after three years he still doesn't understand how tariffs work.

Doesn't matter because neither do his supporters. They also don't seem to actually know what socialism is.

Caquas

FrostyJack wrote: »

That is 3 times now you brought up Irish politics, a totally non related issue to the case of Blagojevich, you would swear you were using a tried and tested method to deflect.

He was caught, but other people aren't so that is okay, right? See the example given above about the bank robbery. He was attempting to stop funding to a children's hospital, which I am sure would result in injury or loss of life had it come to pass, like withholding funds for weapons in the field, all for no other reason than personal political gain, I see why you chose this hill to die on. If he is a criminal

he is

, then so is Trump.

I don’t apologise for linking this case to Irish politics. We are on an Irish website.

Blagojevich was convicted of seeking campaign contributions after he had succeeded in making a tax change which benefitted paediatricians who had lobbied unsuccessfully for years. He was upset that they wouldn’t contribute to his re-election campaign (which is legally ring fenced and not available to the candidate personally). My point is that Irish politicians are relieved of this inconvenience because Irish taxpayers are obliged to contribute to incumbents regardless of our political views.

It’s time you apologised for calling me a liar now that I’ve improved your legal education. At the very least you should acknowledge that after eight years, Blagojevich has served his time and Trump was right to commute his sentence. No one in Ireland has spent 8 years in jail except for murder but you wanted Blagojevich to serve 14 years for attempting to get campaign funding from a medical lobby. The Irish love to pillory corrupt politicians until they need to bend the rules to get planning, or a medical card or a pension or ...... .

Here’s another layman’s guide to the Blagojevich case for your continuing education (that two second wiki search seems a long time ago Jack!)

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/11/02/rod-blagojevich-mercy-corruption-chicago-illinois-governor-215781"]https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/11/02/rod-blagojevich-mercy-corruption-chicago-illinois-governor-215781[/URL]

RIGOLO

Seems to be a lot of bluster and opinion recently about TRump being some kind of Russian or Putin stooge. One would have thought after Mueller fell on his face, the anti-TRumpers would have learned something. I guess not.

But its all just bluster and opinion.. none of it based in reality.

The reality is Lithuanians were cheering the increase and arrival of US troops and tanks to bolster their Baltic border with Russia.

https://www.defensenews.com/land/2019/10/14/on-the-borders-of-putins-baltic-fortress-lithuania-cheers-the-build-up-of-us-forces-in-the-baltics/

So its all just baseless opinon thats been expressed in recent posts about TRump being Putins stooge. Just cos Putin may prefer to see TRump win, doesnt mean TRump is a puppet of Putins.

Meanwhile the Lithuanian vice minister of national defence is cheering the measures taking by TRump administration.

“The geopolitical situation in the region, it hasn’t changed,” Giedrimas Jeglinskas, Lithuania’s vice minister of national defense, said in an interview with Defense News. “For us this is a great thing. We see that the U.S. is in the region, and U.S. presence is the biggest deterrent that we could ever hope for. We’ve said for a long time that we want U.S. soldiers on our soil — and we can argue about whether its permanent rotational forces or a permanent rotation — but the fact is that they are there.”

Trump has bolstered the US military levels on Russias border to never before seen levels from Lithuania stretching to javelin defense missile systems in the ukraine.

the latest deployments and the forthcoming Defender exercise will bring that presence to new levels.

RIGOLO

everlast75 wrote: »

I'm going out on a limb here. I know this is absolutely out of left field.. but perhaps... and stick with me... just maybe... he is an utter moron? I mean objectively - what if the explanation here is his I.Q. is negligible. That would account for an awful lot of his behaviour.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion.
Its a relatively free society.

Your entitled to call/think him a moron with negligible intelligence.

He seems to have done very well for himself, having managed a multi-billion dollar buisness and won a US Presidential election and looking likely to win a second term. So much for being a moron of negligible intelligence.

Christy42

greenfield21 wrote: »

Good article on why Putin wants a democrat

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.forbes.com/sites/ellenrwald/2020/02/21/putin-cant-be-rooting-for-trump-why-russia-needs-a-democrat-win/amp/

That article is garbage. It decided to look at a single policy and ignore everything around it. It looks at Democrats unwillingness to drill for oil on federal lands and that is it.

Democratic candidates have a much bigger plan for green energy which will reduce the price of oil and hurt Saudi Arabia and Russia. Never mind that Trump will drive the US away from allies or that a democrat may ending reinstating Obama's ban on selling the Saudis weapons.

The access to green energy becomes a massive elephant in the room for that article that it simply never addresses.

RIGOLO

kilns wrote: »

The only long term legacy Trump has left the US with is a divided nation with huge debt (which he claimed he would eliminate) that generations will have to pay back

Only an anti-TRumper would seriously IGNORE Obamas debt and level the blame for US debt problem at the foot of TRump.
The U.S. debt increased $9 trillion during the 8 years Obama was in office.

Perhaps you were paying attention to the moves in the US bond market this week. The 30 year Treasury bond yield hit a record low, which indicates investors have never had as much confidence in the US economy, and the US had never auctioned such debt so cheaply.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/30-year-treasury-bond-yield-breaks-to-all-time-low-as-coronavirus-fears-lift-havens-2020-02-21
So again, your just expressing an opinion.
The market and bond yields are expressing the reality of booming US economy, booming international confidence in the US ecnonomy and uber-cheap debt.

Christy42

Seriously. What is with the extra capital in TRump?

It just makes the post look like a scam email.

Anyway on that point Trump promised to get reduce (get rid?) of the debt and has made it worse. Nothing Obama did changes those facts. You continually ignore that Obama took over an economy in disaster and brought it back. Trump took over a booming economy and has still added to debt he promised to reduce

Timberrrrrrrr

RIGOLO wrote: »

Only an anti-TRumper would seriously IGNORE Obamas debt and level the blame for US debt problem at the foot of TRump.
The U.S. debt increased $9 trillion during the 8 years Obama was in office.

Perhaps you were paying attention to the moves in the US bond market this week. The 30 year Treasury bond yield hit a record low, which indicates investors have never had as much confidence in the US economy, and the US had never auctioned such debt so cheaply.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/30-year-treasury-bond-yield-breaks-to-all-time-low-as-coronavirus-fears-lift-havens-2020-02-21
So again, your just expressing an opinion.
The market and bond yields are expressing the reality of booming US economy, booming international confidence in the US ecnonomy and uber-cheap debt.

Why did it increase? What was this money spent on?

Cody montana

RIGOLO wrote: »

Everyone is entitled to their opinion.
Its a relatively free society.

Your entitled to call/think him a moron with negligible intelligence.

He seems to have done very well for himself, having managed a multi-billion dollar buisness and won a US Presidential election and looking likely to win a second term. So much for being a moron of negligible intelligence.

He was also bankrupt SIX times.
The current deficit in the US in ONE trillion.