All Purpose News and Politics Thread Part IV: The Center Cannot Hold

[InformationGeek]

I'm just so tired.

CHRIS WALLACE: Do you have any problems with the president calling Mitt Romney a "pompous ass"?

.@RepChrisStewart: "I'm shocked you'd ask me this. I know the media loves for Republicans to criticize--"

CW: The president called him an ass!

STEWART: "Mitt Romney's a big boy."

EDIT: Still very tired.

The Trump administration is pulling out of the Open Skies Treaty, which allows the United States and our allies and partners in Europe to monitor Russian military deployments. Withdrawal risks dividing the transatlantic alliance.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

I'm just so tired.





EDIT: Still very tired.

Whatever Vlad wants, Vlad gets. Trump is no longer hiding the fact he’s Putin’s bitch.

[Tami]

Whatever Vlad wants, Vlad gets. Trump is no longer hiding the fact he’s Putin’s bitch.

[worstblogever]

Seth Abramson doesn't seem like the ideal person to convey what Republicans really believe.

Of course he isn't. You would need a psychologist with expertise in discussing the psychology of cults.

[shooshoomanjoe]

Will the GOP care about this:

As even Republican lawmakers and foreign policy experts reel over Donald Trump’s unilateral decision to abandon Kurdish allies to an assault from Turkey in Syria, the president himself apparently has an explanation: “I have a little conflict of interest” concerning Turkey.

Trump made the comment in a Breitbart News interview in December 2015 during his presidential campaign when asked how he would handle Turkey and Syria.

“I have a little conflict of interest ’cause I have a major, major building in Istanbul,” Trump boasted in response. “It’s a tremendously successful job. It’s called Trump Towers — two towers, instead of one, not the usual one; it’s two. And I’ve gotten to know Turkey very well. They’re amazing people, they’re incredible people. They have a strong leader.”

He said then that the situation was “complicated,” adding, “I thrive on complicated.” Trump did not reveal what he would do in the region if he were to become commander in chief.

Trump still owns Trump Towers in Istanbul, and the “strong leader” then was the same as now: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Though his continuing business interest in Istanbul is widely known, his own admission that it represents a conflict of interest is startling. Critics have long argued that Trump, as presidents traditionally do, should divest from his businesses to avoid conflicts of interest that threaten to put his personal benefit ahead of the nation’s.

In a late Sunday phone call with Erdogan, Trump suddenly agreed to let Turkey occupy a strip of northern Syria, currently controlled by ethnic Kurds who have been America’s most effective allies in battling the so-called Islamic State. Now supporters fear a U.S.-enabled slaughter of the Kurds, who have a centuries-long dispute with Turkey over self-rule.

“Everyone was absolutely flabbergasted by this,” retired Adm. James Stavridis said Monday on MSNBC, referring to the Pentagon perspective on Trump’s action. “Nobody saw it coming, and that is a real problem when you’re trying to conduct not only foreign policy ... but also military operations. That kind of whipsawing effect is extremely detrimental, not only in this tactical situation but strategically, as our planners try and prepare in other theaters, from North Korea to Afghanistan.” (See the video above at 9:18.)

White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said Monday that Trump’s decision had nothing to do with the Trump Towers Istanbul complex.

Check out Trump’s Breitbart interview about his “conflict of interest” below. The section on Turkey begins at the start.

[worstblogever]

Trump today also claimed that he's "Zooming 17 points up in polls".

No one can figure out what the hell poll he's talking about, because he'd down even in right-wing news site polls compared to last week, because OBVIOUSLY.

[Tendrin]

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019...peachment-2020

When it comes to impeachment, the Republican Senate, resting on the bedrock of Donald Trump’s base, has been viewed as an unbreachable wall. But what would it look like if it started to crack? The first sign might be an ominous quiet. The emergence of a second intelligence-agency whistle-blower, this one reportedly with a firsthand account that Trump withheld military aid from Ukraine to pressure its government to investigate Joe and Hunter Biden, complicates the president’s deep state conspiracy defense—and the senators on whom Trump’s political survival rests are mostly lying low. “The messaging is missing this time,” a former West Wing official told me. Even Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said last week that he would be forced to hold a Senate trial if the House impeached Trump. “There’s been a real increase in nervousness over the past three or four weeks,” a prominent GOP member told me. “Everybody sees what Trump did as such a clear abuse of power,” said another prominent Republican. “Whether it’s criminal or not is another issue. But it’s so blatantly over the line.”

I don't believe it. At all. It is, however, worth reading.

[Iron Maiden]

Exclusive: Official Who Heard Call Says Trump Got 'Rolled' By Turkey and 'Has No Spine'

IMO this is what happens when you have an administration with a revolving door staff. All the generals have left him, Matteis, McMaster, Kelly and you get the sense that more and more, Trump is calling the shots on the fly without consulting anyone. In his colossal ignorance and arrogance, he thinks he's smarter than military experts and veterans of decades of service. He's a danger to this country and the GOP does absolutely nothing about it. IMO this is something that the 25th amendment should cover. He's mentally unstable and seems to be getting worse all the time.

Here's an excerpt from an article from January of this year, written by Admiral Stavridis (Ret.) who was the 16th Supreme Allied Commander at NATO about Trump and his relationship with the generals in his administration

In the cases of Generals H.R. McMaster, John Kelly and, finally, James Mattis–all of whom I’ve counted as not just colleagues but also friends–the details of each individual departure vary somewhat. But the common theme is actually pretty simple: President Trump simply cannot be briefed, staffed, scheduled or organized in a manner that long-serving military personnel find effective. I once asked Mattis–while he was considering the offer to become Secretary of Defense–how hard he thought it would be to work with a personality like Trump. He said it might not be “mission impossible” but he knew it was going to be “mission very difficult.” This from a man who has repeatedly taken on the toughest of assignments.

The President famously does not actually read the voluminous policy papers with which he is presented. From the perspective of a senior military mind, this would be akin to a car refusing to be gassed up. According to multiple reported accounts, Trump’s briefings have to be put in the simplest terms; the traditional complex military PowerPoint slides were anathema to him. The military presents its shared wisdom by detailing a traditional set of information: assumptions, existing conditions, courses of action, centers of gravity and, in the end, the ultimate three options suggested to the decisionmaker; the President prefers to go with his gut. This made for a continuous collision between the President and his generals, and the recent series of decisions-by-tweet (notably including the withdrawal from Syria) truly underscore the impossibility of molding the President’s approach.

There was also an ongoing sense that the President’s moral structure was, shall we say charitably, unconventional to the military mind. Cadets and midshipmen at the service academies operate on a very simple honor code: to not lie, to not cheat, to not steal. Every year, a handful of young officers run afoul and are summarily dismissed. For those who follow along the career path, any officer who violates the Uniform Code of Military Justice in any way–from sexually propositioning a subordinate to misrepresenting the finances of his unit–would be court-martialed and removed from the service. The President’s style of playing loose with the truth and facts–including by saying on Jan. 2 that he “essentially” fired Mattis, something he did not do–grate on the military mind. General Stanley McChrystal, who retired during the Obama Administration, said in a recent interview that Trump is a liar and an immoral figure. His blunt and direct comments provide a pretty good summary of what most generals think about the President’s character.

Unfortunately, a lot of Trump voters are too ignorant to read up on things like this and blindly follow the false prophets of Faux News

[Tendrin]

https://www.thedailybeast.com/realcl...ar-right-memes

...yikes...

The company behind the non-partisan news site RealClearPolitics has been secretly running a Facebook page filled with far-right memes and Islamophobic smears, The Daily Beast has learned.
Called “Conservative Country,” the Facebook page was founded in 2014 and now boasts nearly 800,000 followers for its mix of Donald Trump hagiography and ultra-conservative memes. One recent post showed a man training two assault rifles at a closed door with the caption “Just sitting here waiting on Beto.” Others wink at right-wing conspiracy theories about Barack Obama’s “ties to Islam” or the Clintons having their enemies killed, or portray Muslim members of Congress as terrorist infiltrators. The page is effusive with praise for Vladimir Putin, and one post portrays Russia as the last bastion of freedom in Europe.
It’s a far cry from the usual fare on RealClearPolitics. Founded in 2000, the site was an early online aggregator of political news, curating links to widely read politics stories and opinion articles in other major outlets. The site has become synonymous with its polling aggregator, which is regularly cited by news organizations on both sides of the aisle as an objective metric of major political races. In recent years, the site has expanded to cover health care, finance, foreign policy, and more.

'non partisan'. :P

It gets worse from there.

Conservative Country isn’t the first ultra-partisan title that’s been connected to RealClear. A 2017 SEC filing listed RealClear co-founder John McIntyre as a director at FDRLST Media and put both companies at the same Chicago address. FDRLST Media is the parent company of The Federalist, the conservative news site behind last month’s false story claiming the deep state secretly revised official whistleblower regulations to allow the Trump-Ukraine whistleblower to provide secondhand information. Even after the story was widely debunked, Trump and several GOP lawmakers pushed it on social media and the Sunday morning political shows, and a link to the Federalist article appeared in 1600 Daily, the official White House newsletter.

[Tendrin]

Of course he isn't. You would need a psychologist with expertise in discussing the psychology of cults.

"people critical of my party aren't the person to ask about what my party really believes" is pretty funny, given Mets' propensity for deciding he knows what Democrats 'really mean'.

[FBarnhill]

Trump isn’t a president; he’s a clown.

[Theleviathan]

He is literally letting an ally get slaughtered for his personal profit.

Just when I thought it couldnt get worse.....

[JackDaw]

Trump today also claimed that he's "Zooming 17 points up in polls".

No one can figure out what the hell poll he's talking about, because he'd down even in right-wing news site polls compared to last week, because OBVIOUSLY.

I hope it isn’t getting to stage where he’s wondering what that big red button on his desk does...

[numberthirty]

I can't tell if Rick Perry is supposed to be their fall guy or their alibi.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Republicans, Foreign Policy Experts Condemn Trump’s Decision To Abandon Kurds

Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina called it “a stain on America’s honor.” And Grouchy Graham is a shitstain for kissing Trump's ass like all other Republicans. Meanwhile....

**********

In Turkey Vs. Kurds Dispute, Trump Chooses The Side Where He Has A Condo Complex

The administration is letting Turkey move into northern Syria to wipe out the Kurds, who have long fought Islamic State terrorism alongside the U.S. All the more reason for presidents to FULLY divest from any businesses they happen to own. Trump has clearly put profit over morality.


**********

After Stumbles, White House Aims To Hone Impeachment Defense

Trump aides are honing their approach after two weeks of what allies have described as a listless and unfocused response to the impeachment probe. Doesn't matter. Trump will torpedo any approach his aides come up with, because he can.

**********

Pat Robertson: Trump Is ‘In Danger Of Losing The Mandate Of Heaven’

The right-wing televangelist tore into Trump’s decision to leave Kurdish fighters in Syria to fend for themselves as Turkey prepares to invade. For a man who singlehandedly broke most of the Ten Commandments, Trump never had that so-called mandate from jump.

**********

Meghan McCain Rips GOP’s ‘Feckless, Unpatriotic Cowards’ In Scathing Takedown

The “View” co-host slammed any Republican backing Trump’s decision to step aside as Turkey prepares to invade Syria. When McCain, the GOP's biggest booster on The View bashes the party, you KNOW they done fucked up.