Has U.S. Democracy Been Trumped?

[jjbrr]

Well worth reading as followup to the previous link

 

https://www.lawfareblog.com/what-if-obstruction-was-collusion-new-york-timess-latest-bombshell

 

Thanks; this was well written.

[johnu]

The Manchurian President communicates in private with his Russian handlers.

 

Trump has concealed details of his face-to-face encounters with Putin from senior officials in administration

 

Apparently Dennison doesn't trust his own staff and cabinet to know if he is committing treason in plain sight.

Trump Blasts Times’ FBI Investigation Article As ‘Most Insulting Ever’

 

This is probably not in the top 100 most insulting articles about Dennison.

 

When Pirro asked Trump “are you now or have you ever worked for Russia,” Trump didn’t directly answer the question, but said: “I think it’s the most insulting thing I’ve ever been asked.”

 

Hmmm, even Dennison couldn't fake enough outrage to issue a "Fake News" comment.

 

He insisted to Pirro that he’s not hiding anything, and indicated he would be willing to share details of the talks.

Probably after he voluntarily releases his tax returns.

[Winstonm]

Play ignore-a-mole instead of whack-a-mole. Better yet, don't go into the game room at all.

 

Over the next nine months, the Democratic Party’s campaign committees and individual candidates began paying less attention to the president, even as he continued to demand the media spotlight and dominate the national political conversation. And when they did talk about Trump, those candidates were advised to actively try and de-emphasize him. The president was not a uniquely dangerous figure, the new framing went. Instead, he was something duller but equally fearsome: a Republican incumbent.

 

“We treat him so differently but that doesn’t lead to success,” said Matt Canter, a pollster for Global Strategy Group, the firm that conducted the survey on African-American millennials. “It does what he wants. When you treat him differently, it makes him different.”

[Winstonm]

Here is a description of the biggest threat concerning the Russia probe and why Barr should not be AG:

 

When senators get to grill William Barr next week, they shouldn’t waste much time on whether President Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general would fire special counsel Robert Mueller. The key question should be something different: Under what circumstances would Barr advise the president to pardon the targets of Mueller’s investigation?

 

Here’s why: The most significant single act of Barr’s career in the Department of Justice was to advise President George H.W. Bush to pardon six officials from Ronald Reagan’s administration, including Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, for crimes associated with the Iran-Contra affair. At the time, Barr was — you guessed it — attorney general. His recommendation gave Bush the cover he needed to issue the pardons.

[johnu]

One of Dennison's early supporters and a possible source for Dennison's obsession with a wall

 

Stunning Steve King builds wall in Congress

 

Steve King asks how terms 'white nationalist' and 'white supremacist' became offensive

 

 

 

Good to know. I was a worried that Austrian nazis would immigrate to the US and join the Democratic party.

 

 

How has this brilliancy not become the catchphrase of Dennison?

Fake outrage coming up?

 

House GOP Leader: ‘Action Will Be Taken’ On Steve King Over White Supremacist Remark

 

Call me cynical, but I don't expect more than a slap on the wrist. Stunning Steve has been saying these racist things for years with no reprimands from Replicans in Congress.

 

“Some in our party wonder why Republicans are constantly accused of racism — it is because of our silence when things like this are said,” (Republican Senator Tim) Scott wrote in The Washington Post.

 

Scott later shied away from calling King a racist on Fox News and said King should not resign.

The irony of Senator Scott's two-faced comments are apparently lost on him.

 

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who picked King to co-chair his 2016 presidential campaign, denounced the lawmaker’s comments as “stupid” during an interview Sunday on NBC’s “Meet The Press.”

 

:lol: Cruz picked King to co-chair his presidential campaign to get the support of the very large white supremacist wing of the Republican party.

 

Asked if he would rule out supporting King in the future, Cruz deflected.

By deflected, the author means Cruz will probably support King first thing the next morning. I'm shocked about the fake outrage from Cruz.

[andrei]

Do border walls work? If you ignore the fact that ladders let people climb over them, saws and drills let people go through them, shovels let people go under them, they work great

 

Big Tom Cruise fan, I see.

 

Of course, they don't stop people who enter the country illegally in ships, trucks, cars, planes, or those who enter legally with a visa and then overstay.

 

I was always wondered why do we have speed limits on roads since it does not stop people under influence getting behind the wheel.

[johnu]

Big Tom Cruise fan, I see.

 

Obviously you are a yuuge Dennison fanboy :rolleyes:

 

I was always wondered why do we have speed limits on roads since it does not stop people under influence getting behind the wheel.

 

I'm sure people like you do a lot of wondering :rolleyes:

[y66]

The irony of Senator Scott's two-faced comments are apparently lost on him.

King's racist views are well known. No doubt they reflect the racist views of many of his Iowa constituents. But calling him a racist is not percentage for black senators from South Carolina of which there have been exactly one, from all southern states, since southern states passed disfranchising constitutions excluding African Americans from the political system between 1890 and 1908. In context, Scott deserves credit for calling King out on his remarks and increasing pressure on other Republicans to do likewise.

[y66]

From Peter Baker at NYT:

 

So it has come to this: The president of the United States was asked over the weekend whether he is a Russian agent. And he refused to directly answer.

 

The question, which came from a friendly interviewer, not one of the “fake media” journalists he disparages, was “the most insulting thing I’ve ever been asked,” he declared. But it is a question that has hung over his presidency now for two years.

 

If the now 23-day government shutdown standoff between Mr. Trump and Congress has seemed ugly, it may eventually seem tame by comparison with what is to come. The border wall fight is just the preliminary skirmish in this new era of divided government. The real battle has yet to begin.

 

With Democrats now in charge of the House, the special counsel believed to be wrapping up his investigation, news media outlets competing for scoops and the first articles of impeachment already filed, Mr. Trump faces the prospect of an all-out political war for survival that may make the still-unresolved partial government shutdown pale by comparison.

 

More.

[andrei]

Obviously you are a yuuge Dennison fanboy :rolleyes:

 

 

 

I'm sure people like you do a lot of wondering :rolleyes:

 

Yeap, one can tell you are not doing enough wondering.

[kenberg]

Yeap, one can tell you are not doing enough wondering.

 

I have been wondering about something myself. Here are two situations:

1. The Dems now control the House, and we are hearing that the Dems must negotiate with Trump Well, Nancy and Chuck must negotiate, presumably with Don.

2. We have repeatedly been told, by Trump supporters going back to the summer of 2016, that we should not get too focused on the exact words that Trump says.

 

So here is the question:

How do you negotiate with someone if you are not to focus on what he says?

This style of his was one of my strong objections to Trump in 2016 and it remains a strong objection.

 

A recent example: Not long ago Trump tweeted about Syria. From me to Erdogan, including just about everyone in between, we understood him to be saying that soon we would be out of Syria and Turkey could do as it pleased regarding the Syrian Kurds. Erdogan understood it this way, so did the Kurds, and so did just about everyone else. .Then John Bolton announced a policy that appeared to everyone to be quite different. Then Trump said something like "Yeah, that's just I said". Uh huh. Of course we could say that the Kurds and Erdogan and I and everyone are just too dumb to understand the clarity of what Trump was saying but this seems to happen over and over. I have never read The Art of the Deal, never watched The Apprentice either, but I understand that Trump regards keeping people off balance as a really good negotiating tactic. Perhaps so, providing you are negotiating with someone who mistakenly trusts what you say, but what works in the Real Estate and Casino business might not work so well on the world stage.

 

 

So the question is: How do you negotiate with a person whose words are not to be taken seriously? Why would anyone even try? You just end up with egg on your face. It was really clever of Trump to invite the cameras in to a supposedly private meeting, have the setting so that the camera is facing him, the camera behind Pelosi and Schumer, call them Chuck and Nancy while they call him Mister President, very clever, but probably not the way to encourage negotiation. But very clever. Clever works for a while. It seems to be wearing thin, and not just with me.

[barmar]

I was always wondered why do we have speed limits on roads since it does not stop people under influence getting behind the wheel.

The issue is the cost vs. benefit of any particular solution, not comparisons.

 

If there are lots of injuries caused by speeding, and speed limits reduce them, and the cost to enforce this is manageable, we implement speed limits.

 

So let's translate that to border security. Are lots of the border security problems due to people walking across the border, so that a wall would prevent them? The simple answer is no, almost all illegal immigration and drug smuggling takes place using other entry points.

 

Today Trump said something like "This would all be over if the Democrats would agree to border security, and that means a wall or barrier." He's constantly asserting this false equivalence. Democrats have no problem with border security, as long as it's done intelligently. Trump is like a dog with a bone when it comes to the wall, he won't understand that it's not the only, or even the best, method of border security.

 

Meanwhile the shutdown is causing reduced TSA staffing, increased backlogs in immigration courts, etc. So the shutdown is ironically reducing border security.

[Winstonm]

The heart of the matter, from The Moscow Project:

https://themoscowproject.org/explainers/trumps-russia-cover-up-by-the-numbers-70-contacts-with-russia-linked-operatives/

Last Updated January 9, 2019

 

On January 6, 2017, the U.S. intelligence community issued a report that showed there were two campaigns to elect Donald Trump: one run by Trump and one run by the Russian government. Trump and many of his senior advisors and close associates have repeatedly denied any connections between the two campaigns, despite the fact that they were working towards the same goal, at the same time, and utilizing the same tactics.

 

Yet over the past year, we’ve learned about a series of meetings and contacts between individuals linked to the Russian government and Trump’s campaign and transition team. In total, we have learned of 101 contacts between Trump’s team and Russia linked operatives, including at least 28 meetings. And we know that at least 28 high-ranking campaign officials and Trump advisors were aware of contacts with Russia-linked operatives during the campaign and transition. None of these contacts were ever reported to the proper authorities. Instead, the Trump team tried to cover up every single one of them.

emphasis added

 

Anything outside this basic narrative is nothing but dogs chasing cars.

[johnu]

Yeap, one can tell you are not doing enough wondering.

 

I actually do a whole lot of wondering.

 

Why would a President of the US betray his country by being a Russian puppet?

 

Why would the country elect a bigot, racist, and white supremacist to be President?

 

Why can't most conservatives see that the man they voted for President is a pathological liar?

 

Why can't most conservatives see that the man they voted for President is an inveterate con man?

 

We may get some insight into the first question when Mueller releases his report.

 

As for the other 3 questions, there's this

 

Fear and Anxiety Drive Conservatives' Political Attitudes

 

4. Conservatives’ brains are more reactive to fear

 

Using MRI, scientists from University College London have found that students who identify themselves as conservatives have a larger amygdala than self-described liberals. This brain structure is involved in emotion processing, and is especially reactive to fearful stimuli. It is possible that an oversized amygdala could create a heightened sensitivity that may cause one to habitually overreact to anything that appears to be a potential threat, whether it actually is one or not.

 

and this

 

Are Conservatives More Scared of Stuff Than Liberals?

 

The evidence we have suggests that the fakest of this fake news — instances in which stuff is basically made up, rather than exaggerated or distorted — mostly targeted and was spread by conservatives, and that while there’s liberal fake news too, there’s less of it.

[johnu]

King's racist views are well known. No doubt they reflect the racist views of many of his Iowa constituents. But calling him a racist is not percentage for black senators from South Carolina of which there have been exactly one, from all southern states, since southern states passed disfranchising constitutions excluding African Americans from the political system between 1890 and 1908. In context, Scott deserves credit for calling King out on his remarks and increasing pressure on other Republicans to do likewise.

 

I don't give him any credit for initially sounding strong, and then slinking off into the night. It makes his initial comments sound totally insincere and made just for political theater.

 

GOP Strips Rep. Steve King Of All Committee Assignments Over White Supremacist Views

 

In a "stunning" move by House Republican leadership, King was stripped of his committee assignments. I have to admit that the House Republican leadership showed more self awareness about the bad optics of the situation than they have shown in decades and really surprised me.

[jjbrr]

Trump's greatest legacy may be his contribution to the english lexicon.

 

A mooch is a measurement of time equal to 10 days.

3 hamberders is equal to 1 hamburger.

Smocking may or may not be bad for your health, but it clears the president thank you.

Covfefe is still evolving in adaptation

[Winstonm]

Trump's greatest legacy may be his contribution to the english lexicon.

 

A mooch is a measurement of time equal to 10 days.

3 hamberders is equal to 1 hamburger.

Smocking may or may not be bad for your health, but it clears the president thank you.

Covfefe is still evolving in adaptation

 

You forgot "rat", someone who is willing to testify against you.

[andrei]

This thread is full of LOL posts/articles. Who can forget this gem:

 

From Dubrovnik, Ivanka and Kushner went to Hvar, which is an island about 3-4 hours by boat. Ivanka herself documented being in both Dubrovnik and Hvar on Instagram.

What’s interesting is that she and American media sources waited until August 14th to post pics and stories, while Croatian media reported her in Dubrovnik on August 12th and arriving August 11th.

Why wait and post both pics days later? Was she trying to hide something?

 

I thought this would be hard to match.

 

I was wrong:

 

 

4. Conservatives’ brains are more reactive to fear

 

Using MRI, scientists from University College London have found that students who identify themselves as conservatives have a larger amygdala than self-described liberals. This brain structure is involved in emotion processing, and is especially reactive to fearful stimuli. It is possible that an oversized amygdala could create a heightened sensitivity that may cause one to habitually overreact to anything that appears to be a potential threat, whether it actually is one or not.

 

Who knew you need to be "brave" to come up with stuff like "safe spaces", "micro aggression", "trigger warnings" and such?

[cherdano]

One of the really solid findings in political science is that being open to new experiences is highly correlated with being progressive/left-wing...

[Winstonm]

Dogs barking madly, spinning car tires

the chase

only

a distraction

[barmar]

Who knew you need to be "brave" to come up with stuff like "safe spaces", "micro aggression", "trigger warnings" and such?

There's a big difference between being sensitive and being afraid.

[Winstonm]

This is a good rebuttal to the Stephen Miller crowd, which includes Individual-1.

 

A good yardstick for whether a country is admitting too many or too few immigrants — beyond the political mood of the moment — is its economic needs. If America were admitting too many immigrants, the economy would have trouble absorbing them. In fact, the unemployment rate among immigrants, including the 11 million undocumented, in 2016, when the economy was considered to be at full employment, was almost three-quarters of a point lower than that of natives. How can that be evidence of mass immigration?

 

The truth is that America is a low-immigration nation. Demographic trends in America point to a severe labor crunch that’ll become a huge bottleneck for growth unless the country opens its doors wider.

[johnu]

Who knew you need to be "brave" to come up with stuff like "safe spaces", "micro aggression", "trigger warnings" and such?

 

Feeling a little afraid Andrei? Maybe you just have a temporarily enlarged amygdala. You can get treatment for the symptoms.

[johnu]

Back on direct point about on thread:

 

With NATO withdrawal, Trump weighed ‘gift of the century for Putin’

 

Will the current Republican in Congress bend over and let Dennison have his way on withdrawing from NATO? You never know. You can hope they will repeat their actions from July, 2018

 

US Senate votes to defend NATO as Trump attacks alliance

 

Hours after Trump landed in Brussels, the Senate passed a non-binding measure, 97-2, that expresses support for NATO, its mutual self-defense clause and calls on the administration to rush its whole-of-government strategy to counter Russia’s meddling in the U.S. and other democracies.

 

OK, this was a non-binding measure. Now that Mattis is no longer Secretary of Defense, there is even more concern that Dennison will try to withdraw the US from NATO as he was instructed to do so by Putin. What next, a Nonaggression Pact between Dennison and Stalin Putin?

[johnu]

Could it be that walls (aka fences) actually work?

 

Boy avoids massive puddle by scaling fence, car drenches him anyway