Maybe this should go in favorite quotes

Look, having nuclear—my uncle was a great professor and scientist  and engineer, Dr. John Trump at MIT; good genes, very good genes, 
OK, very smart, the Wharton School of Finance, very good, very smart 
—you know, if you're a conservative Republican, if I were a liberal, if, 
like, OK, if I ran as a liberal Democrat, they would say I'm one of the 
smartest people anywhere in the world—it's true!—but when you're a 
conservative Republican they try—oh, do they do a number—that's 
why I always start off: Went to Wharton, was a good student, went 
there, went there, did this, built a fortune—you know I have to give my 
like credentials all the time, because we're a little disadvantaged—but 
you look at the nuclear deal, the thing that really bothers me—it would 
have been so easy, and it's not as important as these lives are (nuclear 
is powerful; my uncle explained that to me many, many years ago, the 
power and that was 35 years ago; he would explain the power of 
what's going to happen and he was right—who would have thought?), 
but when you look at what's going on with the four prisoners—now it 
used to be three, now it's four—but when it was three and even now, I 
would have said it's all in the messenger; fellas, and it is fellas because, 
you know, they don't, they haven't figured that the women are smarter 
right now than the men, so, you know, it's gonna take them about 
another 150 years—but the Persians are great negotiators, the Iranians  are great negotiators, so, and they, they just killed, they just killed us.
https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4546796/donald-trump-sentence

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote: 

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote: 
 
I know, from talking to friends and, yes, family members who voted for him that they are/were hoping the Republicans could get done the stuff they felt Obama didn't—no matter who was put in the White House. Some of them still could not get affordable healthcare, especially when self-employed. Some of them were single-issues voters (abortion) and don't really like Trump, but feel the GOP would be the only ones to support their beliefs. Some despised Hillary and her emails so much that they felt the other side deserved the vote. I know that a cousin really does want to see more immigration control (not contempt toward anyone, but something to make him feel safer from terrorism). But what my sister asked some of them was—-don't you realize the insanity you're aligning yourselves with, in the process?? There is nothing Trump can say or do that's bad enough for them to withdraw support. More than anything, they just want the GOP to have a turn.
 
What are they missing? The big picture of the consequences putting such an inept, inexperienced person in charge. The ripple effect on the rest of the world and the interconnection of it all.
 
IMHO

 Red_Dragon wrote: 
Tragi what happened over there... Ppppfffftttttt

je suis Sweden

As Trump appears to be proving his ineptitude for the office, this piece about his voting base rung bells with me. 

The question is, what happens when "even" DT fails to deliver to this pretty large segment of the population?

I think there is a huge crisis in western values/economies going on at the moment, despite the unprecedented living standards a lot of us (most of us?) now enjoy. Something very fundamental to what makes us tick as a species has gotten lost along the way. When overt tribalism rears its ugly head around what is basically a modern version of a witch doctor who incessantly incants an entire litany of what, when it comes down to it, is pure bullshit and then prances about in a deranged manner on the world stage then it makes me a tad worried about the future of civilisation.
I think we should move the focus away from Trump. We should focus instead on the people who look to him as some kind of answer. What exactly are these people looking for? What are they missing? Is the public sector simply failing to invest in the infrastructure that serves the people? Is that the acid eroding our social cohesion? A lack of opportunity? Illusory benchmarks? What is it?

 Red_Dragon wrote: 

Trump family’s elaborate lifestyle is a ‘logistical nightmare’ — at taxpayer expense

Barely a month into the Trump presidency, the unusually elaborate lifestyle of America’s new first family is straining the Secret Service and security officials, stirring financial and logistical concerns in several local communities, and costing far beyond what has been typical for past presidents — a price tag that, based on past assessments of presidential travel and security costs, could balloon into the hundreds of millions of dollars over the course of a four-year term.

...

Trump’s three Mar-a-Lago trips since the inauguration have probably cost the federal treasury about $10 million, based on figures used in an October government report analyzing White House travel, including money for Coast Guard units to patrol the exposed shoreline and other military, security and staffing expenses associated with moving the apparatus of the presidency.

...

In New York, the city is paying $500,000 a day to guard Trump Tower, according to police officials’ estimates, an amount that could reach $183 million a year.

...


Trump’s frequent travel belies his repeated criticism of Obama as a “habitual vacationer” enjoying taxpayer-funded golf getaways. It also comes after his own promises: He told the Hill newspaper in 2015, “I would rarely leave the White House because there’s so much work to be done.”

Presidential families have for decades been guaranteed round-the-clock protection, no matter the expense or destination. Every presidency has brought new operational challenges and lifestyle habits, from George W. Bush’s frequent stays at his remote ranch in Texas to Obama’s annual trips to Martha’s Vineyard and his native state of Hawaii. Judicial Watch estimated that Obama-related travel expenses totaled nearly $97 million over eight years.

 

This from the guy who has traveled to Florida what - every damn weekend since he's been in office?

Less than 24 hours left in the 30 days Trump promised to give "the generals" to get their plan to defeat ISIS to his desk.

 Red_Dragon wrote: 
Yes, that's how it starts.  It's also ironic how often he likes to use the term "fake news", since fake news substantially contributed to his being elected.

“The news is fake because so much of the news is fake,” 

This is some seriously fascist demagoguery folks.

How long can this go on?

 Red_Dragon wrote: 
Why is Trump so cosy with the Russians? This might help to explain it:

The Trump Organization also has significant financial ties to Russia. In a 2008 speech, Trump's son, Donald Trump, Jr., told a real estate conference: "Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets. We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/white-house-leaks-russia-michael-flynn-intelligence-five-eyes-1.3985073

Late-night perusal of my twitter feed ... just a sampling of his press conference Thursday. And a CL ad offering to pay people to go to a rally at the airport...


 
 

 ojibwe wrote: 
It's for realz? Pretty funny. A president can't make the press Go Away, so it's invariably a good idea to have at least a civil relationship with reporters. That survey feels like it was written in crayon by Sarah Palin, then edited by some long-suffering adult. 

"22. Do you believe that if Republicans were obstructing Obama like Democrats are doing to President Trump, the mainstream media would attack Republicans?" 



Republicans obstructing Obama?!? OMG that would never happen!

That question lost me in a maze of paranoia. Dick Nixon would surely approve. 



"25. Do you believe that our Party should spend more time and resources holding the mainstream media accountable?"

Our Party! Ein Land, ein Volk, ein Kombover! The journalists will be held accountable...in our camps! 
 

 ojibwe wrote: 
Careful you don't step in it.
 
 

 ScottFromWyoming wrote: 
That is a hot steaming mess. 

 Steely_D wrote: 
"He can't do better because of others' incompetence."

It's always going to be someone else's fault...until the shit really hits the fan and he can't credibly shift the blame. I think that'll be the point when things start collapsing for him. With Dubya it was Hurricane Katrina, which changed people's perspective on 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq.  


"A few minutes ago on FOX I heard the contention that the problem with the intelligence departments are the mid-level managers who aren't concerned with the Constitution, but with trying to set "trip wires" (really said that) designed to sabotage the current administration. The answer was to fire all mid-level intelligence personnel."


Apparently FOX isn't considering the federal regulations in place blocking the mass termination of employees for political reasons. It is troubling, though, that we didn't hear about the apparently numerous and lengthy contacts between Trump campaign personnel and Russian intelligence agents until after the election. But hey, Anthony Weiner apparently sexted an underage girl and there were Clinton campaign emails on his laptop and some of them might have been classified so we got to hear about that 10 days before the election because...tell me again why? 

A shame that Clinton didn't win, if only so we could see Comey get his ass fired so hard on Day 1.

When in the White House, the GOP typically tries to implicitly assert that the presidency is the primary repository of federal authority, and by extension the president as the embodiment of that authority enjoys powers and privileges not subject to the other branches of the government (aka the Imperial Presidency). Nixon tried that on during Watergate when he claimed that executive privilege allowed him to refuse the special prosecutor's demands for the White House tapes. Reagan tried to claim that Congress's attempt to force him to testify about the Iran-Contra scandal would demean the dignity of his office. Bush used a similar claim to testify privately about 9/11 (Uncle Dick was there with him during the testimony, no doubt to hold his hand and occasionally lend some needed coherence. IIRC they were allowed to testify without taking an oath). 

Trump is sorta trying that now in claiming that leaks about his campaign staff and Flynn are treasonous. The leaks are embarrassing to Trump, so they must be hostile to the presidency and therefore treasonous! Good luck with that reasoning. The Republicans are mostly trying to turn the controversy about a campaign's secret relations with Russia into a controversy about government leaks. That's not going to fly either.