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Trump is not a joke

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Harry Marks
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Re: Trump is not a joke

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Taylor wrote: I think that first and foremost they should govern.
I agree, but with McConnell back in position to be the opposition, that is not easy to do. I would like to see the investigative power used for more than just the fiasco of Dear Leader. Like climate change, medical care, opioids, medical care, affordable housing, medical care, infrastructure and medical care.
Taylor wrote: At this stage of the current executive regime Tump is his own worst enemy,
He looks like he is in trouble, but there is no particular reason to expect an economic downturn, so a lot of independent voters will go with that. It will be interesting to see how his "rile up the base" strategy plays out, particularly with the base stirring the pot on abortion. Seems to me they would alienate centrist voters, such as those who brought the suburban landslide of 2018, more than they would turn out those inclined to sit on their hands, but the riling-up industry will go to work again and much may depend on how skillfully the Dems can parry their swift-boating.

Mostly I'm just putting in my two cents so I can follow the thread. :chatsmilies_com_92:
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DB Roy
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Re: Trump is not a joke

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DWill wrote:I'd like to hear where you stand on impeachment. Would you agree that, while impeachment is probably not advantageous politically for the Democrats, to shirk a constitutional duty will end up eviscerating the party?
I think impeachment is inevitable. Public support for him weakens by the day because of Trump himself. First, he shows up for an infrastructure meeting with Pelosi and then storms out of the room and tells reporters that he's not working on anything until the investigations stop. Now, is that any way for a president to act?? Is that any way for an adult to act?

Imagine how impressed the public would have been if Trump had walked in and unveiled a real infrastructure plan. Pelosi would have short-circuited! The dem leadership would have been gobsmacked, as they say. I hear some people asking why the dems even wanted that meeting. Because they KNEW Trump had no plan--HE NEVER HAS A PLAN! They wanted to show the nation--indeed the world--Trump has no plan and no intention of working with them to hammer out a plan. He acts as though by governing that he's doing us a favor instead of his job.

THEN Trump calls all his cronies out in front of the mics and and asks each one if they saw him throwing a tantrum after his meeting with Pelosi. "No, sir, Mr. President! You were calm and cool as a cucumber!" I was embarrassed for these people! It was pathetic! Why didn't Trump produce his 3rd grade teacher to show his gold star for that day?? Then again, he probably never made it that far.

THEN--yes another THEN--he starts tweeting out these doctored video clips of Pelosi making her look drunk and disoriented by slowing down her speech and splicing in stutters. Even AFTER being informed that the clips were doctored, Trump doubled down like the idiot he is and kept tweeting that the clips prove how she's changed. It was truly ridiculous and laughable. And I won't mention, except in passing, that stupid "NO-NO" sign his had mounted on the podium in the Rose Garden.

The public has to be watching all this and just thinking that Trump is losing it. This guy has to go.

It's getting to the point that by continuing to defend him, each republican who does so is putting his or her own cred on the line and it's not worth it. Others are saying Trump is doing all this to get the Mueller investigation off people's minds but it only forces more attention on it. This guy broke the law and we don't even know what SDNY is going to hand us once their investigation is wrapped up. Pelosi has tried to stave off talk of impeachment but she cannot anymore. It is an idea whose time has come. It's in every media story that has anything to do with Trump--impeachment, impeachment, impeachment. Trump has to be punished or this country cannot hold its head up and face the rest of the world.

Some dems feel that if impeachment fails, that Trump will be guaranteed a reelection next year but I have my doubts about that. Even if Trump wriggles out of it, people are going to think the GOP and the Russians meddled once again. He's tainted with that now and it's not going to wash off. Really, Trump is finished. The House is received the information they requested from various institutions regarding Trump's finances and he has to know the game is over now. Everything is going to come out and he will not weather the storm and the dems will have a duty to impeach at that point. It will no longer be an option. The republicans will have to acquiesce for the same reason.
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Harry Marks
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Re: Trump is not a joke

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I still prefer disclosure. Trump is not going to be ousted by impeachment unless he is caught red-handed doing more than has been exposed so far. Much better to keep his character before the public eye and talk about pre-existing conditions and potholes (not that he will do anything except keep his character before the public eye, of course). If the Dems force the issue by impeaching, then validating his obstruction of justice becomes the precedent for the next round of executive malfeasance.
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Re: Trump is not a joke

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“Trump lacks certain qualities which the British traditionally esteem.

For instance, he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace – all qualities, funnily enough, with which his predecessor Mr. Obama was generously blessed.

So for us, the stark contrast does rather throw Trump’s limitations into embarrassingly sharp relief.

Plus, we like a laugh. And while Trump may be laughable, he has never once said anything wry, witty or even faintly amusing – not once, ever.

I don’t say that rhetorically, I mean it quite literally: not once, not ever. And that fact is particularly disturbing to the British sensibility – for us, to lack humour is almost inhuman.

But with Trump, it’s a fact. He doesn’t even seem to understand what a joke is – his idea of a joke is a crass comment, an illiterate insult, a casual act of cruelty.

Trump is a troll. And like all trolls, he is never funny and he never laughs; he only crows or jeers.

And scarily, he doesn’t just talk in crude, witless insults – he actually thinks in them. His mind is a simple bot-like algorithm of petty prejudices and knee-jerk nastiness.

There is never any under-layer of irony, complexity, nuance or depth. It’s all surface.

Some Americans might see this as refreshingly upfront.

Well, we don’t. We see it as having no inner world, no soul.

And in Britain we traditionally side with David, not Goliath. All our heroes are plucky underdogs: Robin Hood, Dick Whittington, Oliver Twist.

Trump is neither plucky, nor an underdog. He is the exact opposite of that.

He’s not even a spoiled rich-boy, or a greedy fat-cat.

He’s more a fat white slug. A Jabba the Hutt of privilege.

And worse, he is that most unforgivable of all things to the British: a bully.

That is, except when he is among bullies; then he suddenly transforms into a snivelling sidekick instead.

There are unspoken rules to this stuff – the Queensberry rules of basic decency – and he breaks them all. He punches downwards – which a gentleman should, would, could never do – and every blow he aims is below the belt. He particularly likes to kick the vulnerable or voiceless – and he kicks them when they are down.

So the fact that a significant minority – perhaps a third – of Americans look at what he does, listen to what he says, and then think ‘Yeah, he seems like my kind of guy’ is a matter of some confusion and no little distress to British people, given that:
* Americans are supposed to be nicer than us, and mostly are.
* You don’t need a particularly keen eye for detail to spot a few flaws in the man.

This last point is what especially confuses and dismays British people, and many other people too; his faults seem pretty bloody hard to miss.

After all, it’s impossible to read a single tweet, or hear him speak a sentence or two, without staring deep into the abyss. He turns being artless into an art form; he is a Picasso of pettiness; a Shakespeare of shit. His faults are fractal: even his flaws have flaws, and so on ad infinitum.

God knows there have always been stupid people in the world, and plenty of nasty people too. But rarely has stupidity been so nasty, or nastiness so stupid.

He makes Nixon look trustworthy and George W look smart.

In fact, if Frankenstein decided to make a monster assembled entirely from human flaws – he would make a Trump.

And a remorseful Doctor Frankenstein would clutch out big clumpfuls of hair and scream in anguish:

‘My God… what… have… I… created?

If being a twat was a TV show, Trump would be the boxed set.” – Nate White
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Re: Trump is not a joke

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I think he did say something I thought was amusing, although I can't recall it now. But point taken; the man isn't witty but thinks his schtick is killer because to his devotees, it is.

I waver on impeachment, but I tend to think now that impeachment proceedings might be to his advantage, in that they would probably limit the range of matters that need to be brought to light.
We already know that Republicans won't be persuaded that Mueller's list of obstructions amounts to crime, and that since Mueller didn't find criminal collusion, all there is is Trump welcoming Russia's participation, about which they say, "Eh." So Harry Marks might be right that exposure is best. On the other hand, there is no way to game the outcome. Trump could be either helped or harmed by impeachment proceedings. We can't predict even a few months ahead. So, since his conduct has been impeachable, is there really any way to avolid exercising that responsibility?
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Trump is at his funniest when he's handing out mean, sophomoric nicknames to his opponents. I don't mean that he is funny when he does that--he isn't--but it's as funny as he knows how to be. That's as funny as Trump gets.

An example of Trump trying to be funny and witty (if you haven't already seen it):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXH5xIJ1C1Y

Well, let's see...Sarah Sanders has resigned as press secretary. There are people even at Fox News questioning the timing. She's jumping ship at a time when impeachment is visible on the horizon--no longer just a Pelosi-insistent fata morgana. It's there and it's real.

Sanders leaves right after Trump does an interview with George Stephanopoulos where George asks Trump if a foreign govt offered dirt on an opponent in 2020, would he go to the FBI. Incredibly and yet not surprisingly, Trump said no. George asked if Trump wants to have another govt interfering like that and Trump insisted it was not interfering. Trump insisted that it doesn't hurt to take a look at the info and see what they've got. Then he backtracks and says that maybe he'd do both, take the offered info--and if the info was questionable--THEN go to FBI. He either doesn't understand or he doesn't care that taking that info is ILLEGAL! You CANNOT take the information. It doesn't matter how good or bad the info is. He's advocating breaking the law and he clearly DOES NOT get it!!!

It's like asking him if a murdering pimp/drug-dealer offered him illicit drugs and girls, would Trump go to the police and Trump responds with, "If the drugs are no good and the girls aren't hot then, yes, I'd turn him in but it doesn't hurt to take a look at what he's offering." I mean, holy shit! Only a criminal talks like that. Only a criminal advocates breaking the law for his own gain. Only a criminal finds fault in illicit activity if it doesn't net him anything good.

After all his gaslighting that collusion is just a witch-hunt and FAKE NEWS by liberal media out to get him and that he never colluded, he goes and openly admits that he would collude in a heartbeat. All that gaslighting was for nothing. He ruined his position in the blink of an eye and all these idiots in Congress covering for him are left looking stupid, crooked or both. Lindsay Graham had to be thinking, "That fucking idiot!!!" It is no longer just liberal whining, it is now official by his own admission: Trump is a fucking crook!

You can't defend Trump in public!! He will let you down. He will throw you under the bus while ruining himself in the process. How can these people NOT know what type of complete asshole they are dealing with?? Why do people continue to want to work for him??? I don't get it.

I mean, how much longer can we ignore this type of bullshit so we can avoid impeachment? He MUST be impeached. The House has a duty, an obligation to the Constitution and We the People. When a president flaunts his criminality like this, he has to be impeached because he is unfit for the office and a disgrace to the country.
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So now Trump is just flaunting his racism in public. His attacking of the four ladies of color in Congress, telling them to go back to their crime-infested shitholes (AOC comes from the same city as you, Donald) and then getting a crowd of idiots to chant "Send her back!" concerning Congresswoman Omar at a North Carolina rally which has crossed a point of no return. If it wasn't before, the racism is now naked and fully exposed. Still, of course, he has his moron supporters saying it was not a racial harangue but an ideological scolding. Errr...how does an ideological scolding start off with a tirade of telling four Americans of color to go back where they came from?? That's not ideology, that's racism. My mother is an immigrant and is 90 years old. She has been a citizen of this country for 60 years. She has been a citizen longer than most of the idiots at a Trump rally have been alive but there is no doubt in my mind that they would tell her to go back where she came from. They are that shameless.

Trump then tried to distance himself from his mob's racist howling by saying it upset him and he tried immediately to stop it. Just another bold-faced lie that he will never be called to account for. In the video of the event, he makes no attempt to stop it. He, in fact, allowed it to go on for 13 seconds after which it started to die down on its own and then Trump started speaking again. He NEVER offered a word of rebuke to the mob and his facial expression during the SEND HER BACK chant was his usual arrogant smirk. If he was upset, he should get a Oscar for his acting as nan-chalant as anybody I've ever seen. Of course, unable to accept blame for his own behavior, Trump then blamed the mob for their behavior. He was basically saying, "Blame the mob for letting me rile them up with racial hatred."

The House voted to censure Trump--the first time in American history that's ever happened, as far as I know. Only four republicans joined the dems in a rebuke of Trump's rhetoric. The rest of the GOP is silent or supportive of Trump. They said nothing when Trump exhibited the racism, they said nothing when Trump tried to throw his mob under the bus and nothing when Trump then turned around and supported the mob and now says he's going to go after Omar for criticizing the United States--something he himself does regularly.

Lindsey Graham is even worse than Trump. He supported Trump's rhetoric by calling the four women communists but I guess kissing the asses of Putin and Kim is patriotic. Then he said Omar should be sent back FOR NOT SUPPORTING TRUMP. Not for anything un-American but for not supporting Trump!! We're coming so close to being Nazi Germany that it's not even a stretch to assert it anymore.

Trump also called the four women anti-Semites because they don't support Israel. Now I don't know how any of them actually feel about Israel and I don't care but since when has non-support of Israel been synonymous with anti-Semitism? I can criticize Israel all I want and that doesn't mean I hate Jews. Moreover, Arabs are also Semites. If you hate Arabs, you are also anti-Semitic. Ms. Omar and Ms. Tlaib are both Semites.

Now, some of the righties are trying to say Trump's move was brilliant. Cal Thomas said that what Trump was doing was putting Pelosi in the same camp as the four progressives by forcing her to defend them. Huh? Pelosi and the progressives were ready to go to war when Trump stepped in and stopped it. That wasn't brilliant. Moreover, Trump is totally off-base by somehow thinking that these four progressives are the face of the democratic party because none of them are running for the nomination. AOC isn't even old enough to run if she wanted to. The face of the democratic party will be whoever gets the nomination and it won't be the progressive ladies nor Nancy Pelosi. It may be Biden or Warren or Harris or Buttigieg or O'Rourke but it won't be the ones Trump is currently attacking and so his strategy makes no sense. I agree with Joe Scarborough--Trump gained nothing but has likely cemented himself out of the White House by 2020 because most Americans just aren't going to put up with four more years of this.

I want so much to see an impeachment proceeding started but it probably won't happen. Pelosi is as stubborn against it as the republicans are to condemn Trump's behavior. She may be right, though. It may be better just to let Trump run out this term. I did some checking on the SDNY investigation and it appears it won't be presented until Trump leaves office because of the DOJ ruling that a sitting president can't be indicted. If SDNY sits on their investigation, it's unlikely any of the other attorneys-general with investigations ongoing will do anything other than follow that lead. With the republicans and Pelosi refusing to hear talk of impeachment, I don't see it happening unless it can be shown that Trump molested underage girls. I have no doubt he did it but there probably isn't any overt evidence or, if there is, they still will wait until he leaves office to hit him with it.

So the democrats have let us down--as I suspected they would--showing their usual cowardice. The republican party is even more cowardly and should be forced to disband for being exactly useless and a public and social menace.
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Re: Trump is not a joke

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DB Roy wrote:
I mean, how much longer can we ignore this type of bullshit so we can avoid impeachment? He MUST be impeached. The House has a duty, an obligation to the Constitution and We the People. When a president flaunts his criminality like this, he has to be impeached because he is unfit for the office and a disgrace to the country.
In my opinion, Pelosi is a political genius. The situation might change after Mueller, testifies but right now impeachment can't hurt him. The Senate would never go for it. The members of Trump's cult of personality would rally round him. This is a bass ackwards Presidency. Every time Trump does something appalling his numbers go up.

Pelosi knows Trump can lose the popular vote by a greater margin than he did in 2016 and still win in 2020. It's all about electoral votes in the swing states, and a sure-to-fail attempted impeachment would only spur the Trumpettes in those states to vote.
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Re: Trump is not a joke

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DB Roy wrote: The rest of the GOP is silent or supportive of Trump. They said nothing when Trump exhibited the racism, they said nothing when Trump tried to throw his mob under the bus and nothing when Trump then turned around and supported the mob and now says he's going to go after Omar for criticizing the United States--something he himself does regularly.

Lindsey Graham is even worse than Trump. He supported Trump's rhetoric by calling the four women communists
DB Roy wrote: Moreover, Trump is totally off-base by somehow thinking that these four progressives are the face of the democratic party because none of them are running for the nomination.
Are you at all concerned that Dems in the debate almost unanimously agreed that "entering illegally should not be a crime" or "people should not be deported just for being here illegally"? Isn't that just a step away from advocating open borders? And isn't it going to sound like open borders to an independent?
DB Roy wrote: I did some checking on the SDNY investigation and it appears it won't be presented until Trump leaves office because of the DOJ ruling that a sitting president can't be indicted. If SDNY sits on their investigation, it's unlikely any of the other attorneys-general with investigations ongoing will do anything other than follow that lead.
That strikes me as made up. Are you sure? I mean, if they are able, through looking at his tax returns and following the leads, to show he was involved in money laundering, surely they could prosecute. Or if that isn't a state crime, something else that is. And even if they could not prosecute, the ability to command evidence would surely be useful in the eyes of the states' rights types on the Supreme Court. They could certainly pass it on to Congress, like Mueller, who apparently does believe they have jurisdiction, passed evidence on to them. Although we don't know what evidence he passed on: it may not be relevant to the ringleader.
DB Roy wrote:So the democrats have let us down--as I suspected they would--showing their usual cowardice.
Well, it seems to me the fat lady has not yet sung. A number of subpoenas out there, and Roberts apparently in no mood to have the SCOTUS independence impugned.
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Re: Trump is not a joke

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.
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California, four automakers defy Trump, agree to tighten emissions rules

WASHINGTON/DETROIT (Reuters) - Four major automakers said on Thursday they have reached an agreement with California on fuel efficiency rules, bypassing a Trump administration effort to strip the state of the right to fight climate change by setting its own standards.
..........
Environmental Protection Agency spokesman Michael Abboud called the agreement “a PR stunt that does nothing to ... provide certainty and relief for American consumers.”
reuters.com/article/us-autos-emissions/ ... SKCN1UK1OD


This must be FAKE NEWS! Right?

Now I'm calling all citizens from all over the world
This is Captain America calling
I bailed you out when you were down on your knees
So will you catch me now I'm falling

Help me now I'm calling you
Catch me now I'm falling
I'm in your hands, it's up to you
Catch me now I'm falling
— The Kinks
"I have a great relationship with the blacks."
Donald J. Trump
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