The Trump Presidency

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Given what is known about Trump, I'm certain there is much amuck in Trump's business dealings, let alone his many Russian connections. In the past he has paid fines for money laundering. The only folks willing to put Trump's name on their hotels are pretty damn sleazy. Yeah, from what I have seen, from what is known, I don’t know how he avoids a Corrupt Foreign Practices indictment at the very least.

Despite having agreed to testify before Congress without restrictions Junior and Manafort have been dragging their feet to avoid testifying before Congress. It looks like they have come to an agreement to testify before Congress but in private only. They are wimps. In contrast to their public statements, they don’t want to give public testimony.

The irony here is rich. Given how much Cain Trump raised over Hillary’s servers, his servers are now the subject of a federal investigation. It’s time to see Trump’s emails, and Trump’s servers. I wonder if Putin has Trump's emails. :) In the coming weeks and months, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if we begin hearing more about Trump’s emails and servers. I doubt this will go over well with “The Donald”. It will be certainly interesting to watch, and this may give rise to a constitutional crisis.

On the good side, it appears Trump’s efforts to stall the Senate sanctions bill in the House have fallen to the wayside. It appears the House will pass a modified sanctions bill next week with a veto proof majority which will increase sanctions on Russia and give congress the power to veto any Trump attempt to remove existing sanctions on Russia. That’s more bad news for Trump, and his Russian masters are not pleased. It's a no confidence vote on Trump.
 
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Schmelzer said:
Sorry, but if you know that the US deep state tries to get you, you are stupid if you are not very worried.
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The deep state is like Tarzan in the Tarzan movies - beating up on full grown gorillas and lions one minute, struggling to subdue some poacher the next.
One minute it's all powerful and responsible for everything bad that happens, the next minute it can't stop a 70 year old unhealthy four times bankrupt reality TV show host with Russian mob connections from becoming President of the United States.
 
Schmelzer said:
Sorry, but if you know that the US deep state tries to get you, you are stupid if you are not very worried.
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I can't help but chuckle at this... lets face it Schmelzer, anything you dislike is going to be the "US Deep State" at this point... or "fake news", or any NUMBER of pathetic little excuses for the simple fact that the Trump Administration is currently only slightly less nauseating than a five alarm fire in an orphanage...
 
Not directly Trump related but still a WTF moment:

http://www.newsweek.com/sean-spicer-stole-fridge-junior-white-house-staffers-640690

After about a month in the White House, Press Secretary Sean Spicer really wanted a mini-fridge. Who could blame him? What a nice office perk. Having cold drinks on hand at all times? Sounds wonderful.

Unfortunately, Spicer went about procuring a fridge in a manner that could best be described as ill-advised. A Wall Street Journal report detailed the long and winding road to Spicer's high-profile resignation Friday and began with an anecdote that showed the press secretary hatching a plan to steal a fridge from junior staffers.

Wrote Michael C. Bender of the Journal: "[Spicer] dispatched a top aide to a nearby executive office building where junior research employees are crammed into a room, surviving on Lean Cuisine frozen lunches. Mr. Spicer wants your icebox, the aide said, according to people familiar with the incident. They refused to give it up."

Now, here is the moment Spicer could have shifted gears. It's already (as the kids say) a bad look to demand the workers underneath you give up their icebox. Kudos to them for turning down a senior staffer. But Spicer wasn't satisfied. There is a Walmart about 1.5 miles from the White House where the press secretary could have bought a mini-fridge (for as little as $60!). Instead he waited. Then he pounced.

Wrote Bender in the Journal: "So Mr. Spicer waited until sundown—after his young staffers had left—to take matters into his own hands. He was spotted by a fellow White House official lugging the icebox down the White House driveway after 8 p.m."
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... wut? No, seriously, what the actual? How fucking petty can you be as to go and nab the mini-fridge from your subordinates... rather than going and buying your own one? *shakes head*

Ladies and Gentlemen - the White House...?
 
Oh, also this:
http://www.politicususa.com/2017/07...obamacare-repeal-require-60-senate-votes.html
Democrats scored a huge win as the Senate Parliamentarian ruled that major provisions of the Obamacare repeal bill will require 60 votes to pass.

Here are the provisions of the Obamacare repeal bill that will require 60 votes in the Senate:
• Defunding Planned Parenthood: This section prohibits Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid funds for one year. (Sec. 124)

• Abortion Restrictions for Tax Credits: Two separate provisions contain Hyde Amendment language to prevent premium tax credits and small business tax credits from being used to purchase health insurance that covers abortion. (Sec. 102(d)(1) and Sec. 103(b))

• Sunset of Essential Health Benefits Requirement for Medicaid: This provision states that, beginning in 2020, states no longer have to cover essential health benefits in their Medicaid alternative benefit plans. (Sec. 126(b))

• Funding for Cost-Sharing Subsidies: This section replicates current law by providing funding for the subsidies through 2019. (Sec. 208)

• Stabilizing the Individual Insurance Markets (“Six Month Lock Out”): This section imposes a six-month waiting period for individuals attempting to enroll in coverage in the individual market who cannot demonstrate that they have maintained continuous coverage. (Sec. 206)

• Medical Loss Ratio: This section allows states to determine how much insurers are allowed to spend on administration, marketing, and profits versus health care. (Sec. 205)

• Availability of Rollover Funds: This provision allows states that spend less than their targeted block grant amount to rollover funds to the following year and to use funds for nonhealth purposes, specifically repealing the provision of the Social Security Act that prohibits states from using Medicaid funds to build roads, bridges, and stadiums. (Sec. 134 –1903B(c)(2)(D)) (Note: this provision has been removed from the most recent draft).

• Decrease in Target Expenditures for Required Expenditures by Certain Political Subdivisions (“Buffalo Bailout”): This provision limits the ability of New York State to require counties other than New York City to contribute funding to the state’s Medicaid program. (Sec. 133 – 1903(c)(4))

• Grandfathering Certain Medicaid Waivers; Prioritization of HCBS Waivers: This section says that the Secretary will encourage states to adopt Medicaid Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) waivers but does not set forth any actual details for this plan. (Sec. 136)

• Reporting of CMS-64 Data (T-MSIS): This provision requires the Secretary of HHS to submit a report on Congress recommending whether expenditure data from the Transformed Medicaid Statistical Information System (T-MSIS) is preferable to data from state CMS-64
reports for making certain Medicaid decisions. (Sec. 133 – 1903(h)(5))

• Coordination with States: This section requires the Secretary to consult with states before finalizing Medicaid rules. (Sec. 137)

The abortion restrictions are gone. The defunding of Planned Parenthood is history, so is the gutting of essential health benefits, and a key side deal for upstate New York.

As Sen. Bernie Sanders said in a statement provided to PoliticusUSA, “The parliamentarian’s decision today proves once again that the process Republicans have undertaken to repeal the Affordable Care Act and throw 22 million Americans off of health insurance is a disaster.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has to choose between scrapping the whole health care bill or blowing up the legislative filibuster. Since McConnell wants to move on to tax reform, the odds are that he is close to done with messing with health care. None of these provisions will get 60 votes, so they are as good as gone.

Any bill without these provisions won’t pass the House, so this was a major victory for Democrats and a big step towards defeating the effort to take health care away from 22 million Americans.
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So... pretty much, unless the GOP can swallow their (massively overinflated) ego and actually come to the table with Democrats... they stand exactly zero chance in enacting any sort of healthcare "reform" (and I use the term DAMN loosely) that will pass muster with their own party, score enough votes to pass, and pass the house (since currently, those three are mutually exclusive).

I think Sheldon Cooper says it best:

x05er3.jpg
 
Something amazing happened today. A crack has developed in Trump's base. For the first time ever right-wing entertainment which has steadfastly supported Trump is beginning to be critical of Trump. I listened a bit to Levin and Limbaugh this afternoon. They were both critical of Trump's attacks on Sessions. Where this ends...who knows? I was rather shocked today. The right-wing entertainment industry has been so supportive of Trump. If Trump loses the support of Republican entertainers he loses the presidency. It’s really that simple.


I don’t think Trump will cease the attacks on Sessions. I think his attacks on Sessions are a precursor to firing Sessions in an attempt to end the Mueller investigation. Trump is very threatened by the Mueller investigation, and rightfully so. As a result, I think we are heading full steam ahead into a constitutional crisis. If Mueller continues his investigations, based on what is known about Trump, I cannot see how it ends well for Trump. Trump’s Russian woes are just a part of Trump’s legal problems. As Trump looks at his problems, he really has nothing to lose. If he does nothing, he is screwed. If he does something, in his mind, he might be less screwed. I think he is screwed no matter what he does. The question is how much he screws everyone else on the way out.
 
joepistole said:
Something amazing happened today. A crack has developed in Trump's base. For the first time ever right-wing entertainment which has steadfastly supported Trump is beginning to be critical of Trump. I listened a bit to Levin and Limbaugh this afternoon. They were both critical of Trump's attacks on Sessions. Where this ends...who knows? I was rather shocked today. The right-wing entertainment industry has been so supportive of Trump. If Trump loses the support of Republican entertainers he loses the presidency. It’s really that simple.


I don’t think Trump will cease the attacks on Sessions. I think his attacks on Sessions are a precursor to firing Sessions in an attempt to end the Mueller investigation. Trump is very threatened by the Mueller investigation, and rightfully so. As a result, I think we are heading full steam ahead into a constitutional crisis. If Mueller continues his investigations, based on what is known about Trump, I cannot see how it ends well for Trump. Trump’s Russian woes are just a part of Trump’s legal problems. As Trump looks at his problems, he really has nothing to lose. If he does nothing, he is screwed. If he does something, in his mind, he might be less screwed. I think he is screwed no matter what he does. The question is how much he screws everyone else on the way out.
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I believe Trump has demonstrated many a time that the loyalty that some show towards him is not reciprocated. Trump appears not to have any genuine sense of honor ( obvious eh!?)
He has turned on many and will continue to do so. Just wait until Kushner or Banning are deemed a liability and see what happens.
I also do not believe we have seen the end of the Spicer betrayal either...Trumps paranoia in full swing mainly demonstrated in his early morning , late night tweeting speaks volumes IMO.

He only needs to turn on (betray their loyalty) Fox news and most of his support base would immediately get the picture..
 
Quantum Quack said:
I believe Trump has demonstrated many a time that the loyalty that some show towards him is not reciprocated. Trump appears not to have any genuine sense of honor ( obvious eh!?)
He has turned on many and will continue to do so. Just wait until Kushner or Banning are deemed a liability and see what happens.
I also do not believe we have seen the end of the Spicer betrayal either...Trumps paranoia in full swing mainly demonstrated in his early morning , late night tweeting speaks volumes IMO.

He only needs to turn on (betray their loyalty) Fox news and most of his support base would immediately get the picture..
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Hopefully, they will learn. Republicans aren't the brightest bulbs on the shelf.
 
  • Sessions
  • Spicer
  • Congress ( generally)
  • Judiciary
  • etc.
are all in the firing line of the typical vitriolic outburst characteristic of someone suffering severe paranoia.
 
douwd20 said:
Again no surprise as the party he leads has little use for minorities (religious, sexual and racial) other than tools for hate.

Trump announces ban on transgender people in U.S. military

So now we have bans on muslims and transgender people. Any bets on his next target?
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The kind of politics Trump practices , i.e. fascism, needs enemies. That's why he invents them - enemies everywhere. Trump needs enemies. He needs to be the victim which is kind of funny because he also likes to depict himself as a demigod: the savior.
 
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1275 days
30,600 hours
1,836,000 minutes to go

How long do you intend to keep prolonging your suffering and grasping at straws?
(nothing better to do?)

.............................
for some Europeans and ...?...

in our numbering system
a . comes between numbers and fractions
a , indicates thousands, etc

did one of us get it wrong?
 
sculptor said:
1275 days
30,600 hours
1,836,000 minutes to go

How long do you intend to keep prolonging your suffering and grasping at straws?
(nothing better to do?)

.............................
for some Europeans and ...?...

in our numbering system
a . comes between numbers and fractions
a , indicates thousands, etc

did one of us get it wrong?
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????? Who is grasping at straws?
 
sculptor said:
Yes, fellow traveler
especially(?) to you
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LOL...The truth isn't grasping at straws comrade. It's just the truth. If that makes you feel uncomfortable, so be it.

Trump is very real, and the things he does are very real.

 
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