All-purpose news and politics thread: Two Steps Beyond!(Part II)

[ZombieHavoc]

Kavenaugh is in Trump's pocket and will definitely be confirmed.

Voters did a great job in 2016, didn't they?

[Mister Mets]

The New York Times has published an Op-Ed by an anonymous " senior official in the Trump administration."

The dilemma — which he does not fully grasp — is that many of the senior officials in his own administration are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations.

I would know. I am one of them.

To be clear, ours is not the popular “resistance” of the left. We want the administration to succeed and think that many of its policies have already made America safer and more prosperous.

But we believe our first duty is to this country, and the president continues to act in a manner that is detrimental to the health of our republic.

That is why many Trump appointees have vowed to do what we can to preserve our democratic institutions while thwarting Mr. Trump’s more misguided impulses until he is out of office.

The root of the problem is the president’s amorality. Anyone who works with him knows he is not moored to any discernible first principles that guide his decision making.

Although he was elected as a Republican, the president shows little affinity for ideals long espoused by conservatives: free minds, free markets and free people. At best, he has invoked these ideals in scripted settings. At worst, he has attacked them outright.

In addition to his mass-marketing of the notion that the press is the “enemy of the people,” President Trump’s impulses are generally anti-trade and anti-democratic.

Don’t get me wrong. There are bright spots that the near-ceaseless negative coverage of the administration fails to capture: effective deregulation, historic tax reform, a more robust military and more.

But these successes have come despite — not because of — the president’s leadership style, which is impetuous, adversarial, petty and ineffective.

Nate Silver has a guess on the motives.

It seems like the person's goal is to get outed and secure a very generous advance on a book deal.

[Kirby101]

Kavenaugh is in Trump's pocket and will definitely be confirmed.

Voters did a great job in 2016, didn't they?

Voters voted for Hillary. Trump's Presidency is increasingly looking illegitamte.

[Carabas]

Kavenaugh is in Trump's pocket and will definitely be confirmed.

Voters did a great job in 2016, didn't they?

The Republicans doing the hard work setting up the voter suppression certainly did an excellent job, for bizarro values of ''excellent.

[JCAll]

This is messy, in that redistricting is legally and traditionally the responsibility of elected officials, but they have a clear conflict of interest in trying to protect incumbents as well as their own party.

I guess that's one reason some people support the switch to neutral independent bodies drawing districts. Assuming it's done well, you could have backup maps drawn by separate organizations in case one is found to be unusable. As well as a system in place to prevent future maps by and review other in use maps from those that have been found to be gerrymandering. I suppose that's all just a pipe dream though...

[Mister Mets]

I guess that's one reason some people support the switch to neutral independent bodies drawing districts. Assuming it's done well, you could have backup maps drawn by separate organizations in case one is found to be unusable. As well as a system in place to prevent future maps by and review other in use maps from those that have been found to be gerrymandering. I suppose that's all just a pipe dream though...

There are at least two questions here, beyond the impact of gerrymandering.

Is gerrymandering legal/ constitutional?

Is a switch to neutral independent bodies preferable?

I think it would be much better to have neutral independent bodies determining borders based on a clear standard, but that it would be a massive stretch to suddenly declare something that made the reputation of the US' fifth Vice President illegal.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

The Republicans doing the hard work setting up the voter suppression certainly did an excellent job, for bizarro values of ''excellent.

Don’t forget James Comey and his unfortunate October surprise.

[BeastieRunner]

I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration: I work for the president but like-minded colleagues and I have vowed to thwart parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations.

This is insane on so many levels. For starters, aren’t secret cabals supposed to stay secret?

[Malvolio]

Dayum, Rubio must be feelin' hydrated today, because that's a big boast he's making.



I'm no fan of Rubio, but I would be interested in seeing how this played out.

As a fan of professional wrestling, I enjoy two heels kicking the shit out of each other every so often.

[Mister Mets]

I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration: I work for the president but like-minded colleagues and I have vowed to thwart parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations.

This is insane on so many levels. For starters, aren’t secret cabals supposed to stay secret?

Hey, I posted on this.

Anyway, there have been some interesting responses.

First, from Trump.

TREASON?

Ross Douthat, a Times columnist joked around.

Turns out Mike Pence can write a pretty okay op-ed; who knew?

(This is a joke, for the record.)

However, some clues do implicate Pence.


But, there is at least one alternative explanation.

Why does this White House leak like it’s going out of style? I reached out to some of the Trump administration’s most prolific leakers — people who have been wonderful sources to me (and, I assume, plenty of other reporters) — to get them to explain the draw.

"To be honest, it probably falls into a couple of categories,” one current White House official tells me. "The first is personal vendettas. And two is to make sure there's an accurate record of what's really going on in the White House."
"To cover my tracks, I usually pay attention to other staffers' idioms and use that in my background quotes. That throws the scent off me," the current White House official added.

I'm going to be so disappointed if this ends up being someone's scheduler.

[BeastieRunner]

Hey, I posted on this.

Anyway, there have been some interesting responses.

First, from Trump.



Ross Douthat, a Times columnist joked around.



However, some clues do implicate Pence.


But, there is at least one alternative explanation.



I'm going to be so disappointed if this ends up being someone's scheduler.

Sorry, I hate doing that to people in the thread. I didn't see it at first.

Thanks for the follow up.

[Jack Dracula]

Dayum, Rubio must be feelin' hydrated today, because that's a big boast he's making.



I'm no fan of Rubio, but I would be interested in seeing how this played out.

Little Marko is nobody's b**ch!

[numberthirty]

It's Jones. What's the downside of doing something to him?

You'll get some sort of a civic medal? Key to a city?

[worstblogever]

The New York Times has published an Op-Ed by an anonymous " senior official in the Trump administration."



Nate Silver has a guess on the motives.

I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration: I work for the president but like-minded colleagues and I have vowed to thwart parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations.

This is insane on so many levels. For starters, aren’t secret cabals supposed to stay secret?

If it's not Mike Pence (and yeah, the use of the word "LODESTAR" is a word no other administration official has ever used in public, other than Pence)...

Well, if it's not Mike Pence, it's someone trying to make Trump paranoid about Mike Pence to undercut the VP.

[Carabas]

There are at least two questions here, beyond the impact of gerrymandering.

Is gerrymandering legal/ constitutional?

The point of gerrymandering is to reduce elections to formalities that have no impact who gets elected.
I don't see how that can be legal or constitutional.

Is a switch to neutral independent bodies preferable?

How can it not be?