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The Art of No Deal

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DB Roy
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Re: The Art of No Deal

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Since last I wrote here, Trump did get a healthcare bill through Congress. Well, not Trump, really. Congress got a bill through Congress and that was mostly the Freedom Caucus. The conservatives celebrated but it wasn't much of a win. Most of them admitted they had not read the bill and didn't care to. One guy said they voted for it to get it off their plates and it didn't matter what was in it because the Senate wasn't going to pass it because he knew they were working on their own bill which they will have to come back and discuss with the House before it can go to Trump. One Freedom Caucus member said if the Senate changes their bill one iota they will fail it. So expect nothing but gridlock. The terrible, failing Obamacare will remain in its death throes as the law of the land as far as healthcare goes. And that's just as well since every single poll taken shows that even those demographics favorable towards Trump are not favorable towards repeal and replace. Virtually no Americans favor it.

Trump also got a justice on SCOTUS and even this was not a particularly braggable victory (not that that doesn't stop Trump and his surrogates from bragging). The truth is, Gorsuch only got in because Congress exercised the nuclear option allowing a simply majority vote instead of the usual super majority. Without that, Gorsuch never would have made it. Later when, Trump wanted other protocols blown up to get his way, McConnell responded that he only gets to choose one. Congress is not going to blow up every vote, he said. Trump should know which is the most important vote to him and pick that one to blow up to get it. If he didn't understand that before, too bad. He used his nuclear option and that's it. No more.

Now, you would have thought with him gathering a modicum of momentum, after being thoroughly chastised and discredited over his accusations that Obama wiretapped him, the regime could put that behind them and try tackling tax reform. Instead Trump inexplicably fires James Comey as head of the FBI thereby causing more attention to be riveted on the Russian collusion story that Trump claims he's trying to lay to rest. Well, that's not a very good way to do it! On top of that, in the letter Trump wrote to Comey telling him he was fired, Trump tried to defend himself by stating that Comey had told him three times that he wasn't being investigated. He is NOT supposed to be talking with Comey about the investigation! That's a violation of ethics. Moreover, Comey would not have discussed that with Trump so Trump is lying and actually using this letter to cover his own ass.

His aides and surrogates then go before the cameras (except Spicer who hid in the bushes) and insist Trump was within his legal authority to fire Comey--something no one denied. It was the timing of the thing. Comey is heading an investigation into the Russian connection and Trump fires him after first demanding complete loyalty from him which Comey refused to do. Coincidence, no doubt!!

His aides said Trump fired Comey on the advice of the AG, Jeff Sessions. Trump, however, contradicted them by going on tv and saying he had already made up his mind to fire him before he talked to Sessions. The reason that Sessions gave was totally ridiculous--they fired Comey over the terrible way he treated poor, little Hillary during the election. I suppose the threats to lock her up made right to her face on national television were light gibes meant to be taken with humor. But then Trump contradicted this as well. He admitted he fired Comey at least in part over the Russian investigation. Trump is therefore a law-breaker because that is obstruction of justice and that is illegal--not just impeachable but illegal! Of course that would get Jeff Sessions into very how water if he suggested firing Comey over the Russian thing since he had recuse himself from said investigation.

The next day after the firing, Trump hosts two Russian diplomats at the White House, in the Oval Office--one of them a known spy recruiter--and spills classified information to them concerning ISIS!! No American press was allowed in the room only Russian press! So then Trump forces McMaster, his National Security Adviser, to go before the cameras and tell them he was in the room and Trump did not name any sources, methods or military operations to the Russian diplomats. What McMaster left unsaid was that Trump DID reveal classified information to them--he only didn't name the source of the info nor how they planned to deal with that info. McMaster then left the room without taking questions. Gee, I wonder why.

Some have sought to defend Trump by pointing out that WaPo stated that current and former government officials said that Trump did reveal classified into to the Russians. "No one but a few of Trump's closest aides were in the room so how would these former officials know what went on?" Because WaPo also revealed that Thomas Brossert's people at Homeland Security and Counterterrorism want the problematic parts of the Trump's discussion stricken from memos and the full transcript to be very limited in circulation to further prevent sensitive info from being revealed. So there is a transcript of the meeting and memos taken as well. Maybe that's how former officials know about what was discussed. Maybe a leaker in the WH revealed the transcripts to them but who is the real leaker here? T-R-U-M-P.

Then Comey issues his own memos which reveal that Trump tried to get him to lay off Michael Flynn some time before Trump himself was forced to fire him. Once again, Trump can't talk about that stuff with Comey. That is, once again, obstruction of justice.

Now WH aides are hiding in their offices and fighting with each other according to reporters that are there. They hide from reporters and they hide from Trump who is, by all accounts, screaming and yelling at anyone who enters his sight and that even includes Jared Kushner (who was behind the firing of Comey). Trump is calling them all incompetent. Yet, he's mad at them mainly for their inability to cover his fuck-ups. If the man would shut his big mouth and stop tweeting, he'd be doing a lot better than a 38% approval rating with the public and having the House introduce a move to have him impeached as happened today. I doubt the republicans will act on it but at least that ball is now rolling.

Boy, I've never seen anything unravel this badly.
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DB Roy
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Re: The Art of No Deal

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http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/ ... li=BBnb7Kz

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former FBI Director Robert Mueller says he accepts the responsibility of being appointed as a special counsel to oversee a federal investigation into potential coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign to influence the 2016 election.

In a short statement, Mueller says, "I accept this responsibility and will discharge it to the best of my ability."

His law firm, WilmerHale, says he resigned immediately upon his Wednesday appointment by the Justice Department. Spokespeople declined to comment further.

The appointment came amid a growing Democratic outcry for someone outside the Justice Department to handle the politically charged investigation.

It follows the revelation Tuesday that fired FBI Director James Comey wrote in a memo that Trump had asked him to end an investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

This is a breaking news update. Check back later for more.
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DWill

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I hadn't heard about this before reading your post. This move redeems Rod Rosenstein. Mueller would appear to be an excellent choice for the job. The W.H. will be understandably worried, very worried. Mueller can even rule on Trump's apparent recent attempts to interfere in the FBI's investigation.
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DB Roy
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Re: The Art of No Deal

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They can't ignore it anymore. Trump is out of control. He must be mentally ill or something. I didn't mention that Trump also tried to keep Comey from testifying by intimating in a tweet that he might have tapes of their conversation. Is he insane to make a public threat like that??

Trump then issued a statement saying he welcomed Mueller to investigate and find there is nothing to any of this. The problem is that Trump has done too much deflecting and diverting for that to be true. Why didn't he then demand a special prosecutor himself 3 months ago to get to the bottom of it so he could clear his name? That doesn't make sense. Even worse, suppose it is all marlarkey--he's still screwed himself by telling Lester Holt he fired Comey partly due to the investigation, by asking Comey to lay off Flynn and by trying to intimidate Comey into not testifying (which he will do next week) because that's obstruction of justice regardless of the outcome of the investigation.

I do not see how he can evade the obstruction charges and those charge had better be made against him because they are too major to ignore. He's on tv telling the world he obstructed justice, for crying out loud!! He's sunk himself with his own big mouth.
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Re: The Art of No Deal

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And not a single outrage or misstep he has committed is in the least bit surprising. All the evidence for such stuff being bound to happen was in the cards we all could read during his campaign. I try not to lord this over people I know who supported him, but it's hard not to! To use one of his favorite words, he's all a phony show. He's an atrocious manager, management ability being supposedly the attraction of putting a businessman in the W. H. Look at the way he fired Comey, breaking every rule of good management.
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DB Roy
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No, it's not surprising. I think it was Huffington Post that said just a couple of weeks after Trump was sworn in that at some unspecified point during the next four years, a delegation of congresspeople--both democrat and republican--would go the White House and meet Trump in the Oval Office and tell him that he must resign and, by that time, Trump will be ready to go. The article said this would be the likely ending of the Trump presidency and now it's no longer simple speculation but very probable. He obstructed justice, it's extremely well documented (twice by his own admission) and therefore undeniable. He will have to pay the price. I see no other way out of it for him. Frankly, whether he colluded with the Russians, at this point, has taken a back seat for me. They don't have to even prove that. They've got enough already to nail him. He's done.
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Re: The Art of No Deal

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DB Roy wrote:They've got enough already to nail him. He's done.
No! Not so fast! We MUST NOT repeat the mistakes the Republicans made in trying to take President Clinton down. Yes they impeached, but didn't care that the Senate would not convict so Clinton remained in office. Make no formal moves against Trump until success is assured. Unfortunately investigations move slowly, so it will be quite a while before / if we reach that point.
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) on Wednesday warned that Democrats should not rush into impeachment talks despite swirling controversies around President Trump. "That's not something that we should be rushing into or rushing to suggest,” Schiff told CNN’s “New Day.”

5/17/17
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/33378 ... ment-talks
Although here's a headline for you. :lol:
‘Art Of The Deal’ Co-Author: Trump Will Resign, Then Declare Victory

...Schwartz predicted that Trump would ultimately “lose,” but said he won’t go through an impeachment process. “I surely believe that at some point over the next period of time he’s going to have to figure out a way to resign,” Schwartz said in comments posted online by Mediaite. But in quitting, Trump will try to “figure out a way, as he has done all his career, to turn a loss into a victory so he will declare victory when he leaves.”

5/18/17
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/art ... cdba511035
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DB Roy
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No! Not so fast! We MUST NOT repeat the mistakes the Republicans made in trying to take President Clinton down. Yes they impeached, but didn't care that the Senate would not convict so Clinton remained in office. Make no formal moves against Trump until success is assured. Unfortunately investigations move slowly, so it will be quite a while before / if we reach that point.
I'm not saying impeach and I'm not saying to move right now. The Russian collusion investigation has to be completed. All I'm saying is, even if turned out to be a house of cards (hard to believe considering the effort Trump as put into trying to kill it and the trouble he has gotten himself into in the process), he still must be charged with obstructing justice and he won't be found innocent of that. The evidence is undeniable because one is an admission from his own mouth on national television and another is a tweet sent from his account in which he cannot use the excuse that it wasn't him (or he'd have done so by now). He's boxed in. The collusion and the obstruction are two different things. He can be tried for both. They won't impeach because he'll go to jail. They'll offer him resignation. They'll do the Nixon on him. He should go to prison but he won't because we don't jail presidents in this country. That's what they'll tell him--we can't let you go to prison so you must resign. And he will.

I read the Schwartz article already and I believe he is right. Trump will resign but claim some kind of moral victory although I would suggest to him that for once he'd better shut his damn trap or he will talk himself into a jail cell once the justice system gets sick of his bullshit. As if they aren't already.
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Re: The Art of No Deal

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What amazes me lately is how the intelligence community in America has convinced so many that elected government should be overthrown on hearsay.

We in America need to decide if we want our country governed by elected officials (no matter how much we may dislike them), or by intelligence spooks.
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KindaSkolarly wrote:What amazes me lately is how the intelligence community in America has convinced so many that elected government should be overthrown on hearsay.

We in America need to decide if we want our country governed by elected officials (no matter how much we may dislike them), or by intelligence spooks.
Can you expand on that a little? I agree that it would be best for our system if we simply endure a bad president, and not make his incompetence or even his abuse of power reasons to remove him. We're not England. We've endured bad presidents before; we've also had some good ones who abused their powers. Even if the Trump presidency is a train wreck, as is looking to be the case, we shouldn't necessarily be talking impeachment. But there are limits, clearly, and given what's happened so far, it's unavoidable that the possibility of impeachment will be raised. Democrats will be wise not to beat that drum, though. They need to wait until even loyalists to Trump begin to come around to the opinion that he's committed high crimes and misdemeanors.
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