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

[Tendrin]

Like say, someone who always rushes in to post excuses when his party and members of it embrace white nationalists, and link to their accounts, rather than do the noble thing and criticize them for doing so.

Some people would just prefer to not talk about the, uh, elephant in the room.

[worstblogever]

Some people would just prefer to not talk about the, uh, elephant in the room.

I mean, rather than try to act like Trump doesn't know what he is doing... He's deliberately re-tweeting the worst people out there, acting like a handful of white nationalists and bigots getting banned from social media platforms are victims for it... And he's not doing it because he has any real empathy for these garbage people... he's doing it to distract from the fact that the Mueller Report has him exposed as a criminal and treasonous s*** and even his own stooge A.G. can't keep the extent of his criminal behavior from the public.

This still doesn't make it okay. It's super f***ed up, and even more so that anyone would twist themselves in knots to make excuses. It shouldn't happen. A president is supposed to have advisers who will do a Google search before the commander-in-chief posts about anything or anyone to make sure he's backing the right horse. Trump's people either don't care (and they might not, given they've let him walk onto Air Force One with toilet paper hanging off his shoe) and didn't notice, or they are also of like mind with Trump.

It should disturb anyone who isn't asking for the favorite beverage of Jonestown.

[Tendrin]

I mean, rather than try to act like Trump doesn't know what he is doing... He's deliberately re-tweeting the worst people out there, acting like a handful of white nationalists and bigots getting banned from social media platforms are victims for it... And he's not doing it because he has any real empathy for these garbage people... he's doing it to distract from the fact that the Mueller Report has him exposed as a criminal and treasonous s*** and even his own stooge A.G. can't keep the extent of his criminal behavior from the public.

This still doesn't make it okay. It's super f***ed up, and even more so that anyone would twist themselves in knots to make excuses. It shouldn't happen. A president is supposed to have advisers who will do a Google search before the commander-in-chief posts about anything or anyone to make sure he's backing the right horse. Trump's people either don't care (and they might not, given they've let him walk onto Air Force One with toilet paper hanging off his shoe) and didn't notice, or they are also of like mind with Trump.

It should disturb anyone who isn't asking for the favorite beverage of Jonestown.

The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.

Just sayin'.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Kim Jong Un Supervises ‘Guided Weapons’ Test; Trump Says: ‘I’m With Him.’

Kim “does not want to break his promise to me. Deal will happen!” Trump insists in tweet. Any other president would've decried and expressed outrage over what Kim had done. But NOOOOOOOOOOO! Not Dolt45 who mistakenly thinks Rocketman won't stiff him, and the dummy would be VERY wrong. Once again, Kim will NEVER give up his nukes because he believes that's the only thing keeping him from being overthrown, if not killed like Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi.

**********

Donald Trump Goes On Retweet Rampage Against De-Platforming Of Far-Right Extremists

The president said it was “so great to watch” a video from Alex Jones’ conspiracy-mongering website Infowars. You'd think Trump would have better things to do with his time than indulge in scum like Jones, and you would be wrong. Meanwhile....

**********

Donald Trump Jr. Is Very Mad That Far-Right Extremists Have Lost A Platform

The president’s son is going to bat against Facebook for dangerous conspiracists like Alex Jones. Donnie Dumbass Jr. is supporting the venomous fuckwad who called Sandy Hook "a hoax" and made life hellish for the distraught parents who lost their children. Dwell on that, folks.

**********

Beto O’Rourke Blasts ‘Hatred’ Spewed By Pete Buttigieg’s Anti-Gay Hecklers

The former Texas congressman defended his 2020 challenger after he was hassled at a campaign event. A little decency, even between political rivals vying for the Oval Office like that goes a long way.

**********

John Lewis Reveals Critical Way He’d Have Described Trump To Martin Luther King Jr.

If he could speak to his old friend now, the congressman would also highlight the “great distance to go before we lay down the burden of racism.”

[JCAll]

Kim Jong Un Supervises ‘Guided Weapons’ Test; Trump Says: ‘I’m With Him.’

Kim “does not want to break his promise to me. Deal will happen!” Trump insists in tweet. Any other president would've decried and expressed outrage over what Kim had done. But NOOOOOOOOOOO! Not Dolt45 who mistakenly thinks Rocketman won't stiff him, and the dummy would be VERY wrong. Once again, Kim will NEVER give up his nukes because he believes that's the only thing keeping him from being overthrown, if not killed like Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi.

It doesn't matter to the moron or his flock, to them the matter is settled. He walked in, did nothing, declared total victory, and never thought about it again. That's all that matters.

[Tami]

"The GOP wants a one-party state, and Trump wants to be the autocrat of that state. The idea that they are incompetent is a myth. They are very competent. They are just not interested in the process of governing. They are interested in ruling." #AMJoy

Twitter Link

I'd say they are both, competent and incompetent.

[Tami]

Tribune Editorial: Ambition must be made to counteract ambition

“But the great security against a gradual concentration of the several powers in the same department, consists in giving to those who administer each department the necessary constitutional means and personal motives to resist encroachments of the others. The provision for defense must in this, as in all other cases, be made commensurate to the danger of attack. Ambition must be made to counteract ambition.”

— James Madison, Federalist No. 51

Mr. Madison’s plan for the survival of popular government was nowhere to be seen last week, as Republican members of Congress put their loyalty to a president of their own party ahead of their sworn duty to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”

By abandoning the role the Constitution assigns them, to jealously defend the power of their branch of government against encroachments by other branches, Republicans in Congress surrender their duty, their power and their part in defending American democracy.

Ambition no longer counteracts ambition.

And for what?

To get themselves on the good side of a chief executive who is so clearly corrupt, engaging in obstruction, campaign and ethics violations, using the presidency as a cash cow for his personal business interests, who disrespects the separation of powers, freedom of the press, the rights of minorities and immigrants and our long-standing international alliances.

[Tami]

Trump’s Final Days

What if, after having moved into the White House and gotten comfortable, Donald Trump refuses to check out when his term ends?

Preposterous, you say. No president, not even Trump, would dare to defy 200-plus years of political tradition—not to mention the Constitution—to illegally overstay. But how sure can we be that our norm-busting president won’t attempt to shatter this inviolable standard, too? He and his lawyers have already advanced the specious legal idea that the chief executive can’t be charged with obstruction of justice, thereby placing him above the law. Who’s to say that Trump’s legal advisers might construct some pretext—a national security crisis or charges of election fraud—that would place him above the Constitution and cement his place in the Oval Office?

The fear that a president might not go at his appointed time has a precedent. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, encouraged by columnist Walter Lippmann, contemplated taking dictatorial powers at the beginning of his first administration, but then reconsidered. Almost a half-century ago, the prospect of impeachment and conviction sent President Richard Nixon’s innate paranoia to a sub-basement of suspicion and distrust. As the lights started going out around him, he raged, he drank, and raged some more. In one sober moment, he called CBS News reporter Nancy Dickerson in the middle of the night to ramble on and on about how the press was mistreating him.

According to reporter Seymour Hersh, Nixon intimates began to believe that he was contemplating some sort of a coup d’état to maintain power. An unnamed member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told Hersh that in one meeting Nixon called himself “the last hope” and claimed that the “eastern elite was out to get him.” Said the four-star officer: “His words brought me straight up out of my chair. I felt the president, without the words having been said, was trying to sound us out to see if we would support him in some extra-constitutional action. He was trying to find out whether in a crunch there was support to keep him in power.”

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Trump’s Final Days

For Trump, it’s all about his monstrous ego which has become even more bloated since he won the presidency. He’s never been more powerful than he is right now, anyone who thinks he’s just going to shrug and quietly walk away if he loses next year is delusional. Hell, I’ve been of the opinion Trump has had lawyers investigating ways to overturn the two term limit for presidents from the day he took office. Short and sweet, if he can’t do it legally, he’ll break the rule of law, and not give it a second thought. The Constitution doesn’t mean **** to Trump, it’s all about the power, nothing more, and he’s not going to give it up without a fight than could destroy our democracy as we know it, and that’s no hyperbole. Even more worrisome is that Trump doesn’t care about that either.

[SuperiorIronman]

Even though he is the first billionaire president?

Harry Truman was the poorest U.S. president, with a net worth considerably less than $1 million.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...s_by_net_worth

Networth isn't the amount of money they have, it's the estimated worth of their known assets minus debts. Donald Trump's networth as of today based on a google search is estimated between 2.8. and 3.1 billion. That's 2.8 to 3.1 billion that is worth of his known assets. Without actually looking into his bank account or his tax returns, we don't know if he's even a billionaire or not. Donald Trump was also incapable of getting a loan in the United States which is why he had to cross the pond to get one, so what he has in foreign currency might not translate (and he has to pay back those loans). He'd also have to pay various taxes on his assets so we also don't know what his net income is to say whether he is or not, not to mention that if he has a business account or not (and he likely does) whether this applies to his own personal finances or what his company makes.

He likely has a lot of money, that much isn't in question. But without seeing his tax returns and basing it purely on his networth (which may be inflated by foreign loans) is a bad idea to base anybodies financial legitimacy on. Without seeing the numbers, he's rich, but that's as good as it gets when you only have so much data to base things on.

[Kusanagi]

Trump’s Final Days

The sad thing is I don't think it's preposterous at all, we already saw the start of it in 2016. If he loses in 2020 he will call the election rigged, I am damn certain of this. The good news is I don't think he has the backing of anyone to make a serious play to stay in power, even his toadies in congress mostly tolerate him rather than actually like him.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

The sad thing is I don't think it's preposterous at all, we already saw the start of it in 2016. If he loses in 2020 he will call the election rigged, I am damn certain of this. The good news is I don't think he has the backing of anyone to make a serious play to stay in power, even his toadies in congress mostly tolerate him rather than actually like him.

I don’t think it’s a matter of compliant Republicans in Congress tolerating Trump, in my opinion, they either agree with his madness or are afraid of going against him because of the power he wields with his brainless lemmings who are more loyal to him than the party. I suspect that if Trump were to subvert the Constitution to stay in power, Republicans will more than likely look the other way rather than stop him.

[mogwen]

I don’t think it’s a matter of compliant Republicans in Congress tolerating Trump, in my opinion, they either agree with his madness or are afraid of going against him because of the power he wields with his brainless lemmings who are more loyal to him than the party. I suspect that if Trump were to subvert the Constitution to stay in power, Republicans will more than likely look the other way rather than stop him.

Exactly, I think GOP congressmen are afraid of what he can have on them. But guys, I don't think he's gonna lose the election. He's going to rig it, because that's what he does, even in Golf. He cheats all the time.

[Mister Mets]

Like say, someone who always rushes in to post excuses when his party and members of it embrace white nationalists, and link to their accounts, rather than do the noble thing and criticize them for doing so.

If you think anything I said is inaccurate, by all means point it out. The objection seems to be that I'm on the wrong side, rather than the merits of the specific argument.

Most of the discussion here is left-wing, so there isn't much good in convincing you guys that Republicans should be criticized.

I remain more willing that most others here to support the other party's candidates for office. In the midterms, I mentioned what Democrats I'd like to see win. Currently, I would prefer the Democratic frontrunner to win the presidential election over the Republican incumbent, and I've been pretty open about that. Much of the regulars aren't as open about their positions, talking a lot about Trump when his election wouldn't have changed their vote in any election.

Whether or not someone has previously been familiar with the person they're retweeting is irrelevant. If you retweet something, that means it interests you. If you disagree with the tweet, you should say so. If you don't, we can only assume that you agree with the tweet.

Although I'm sure he doesn't agreement with the sentiment, the tweet itself wasn't the main thing WBE objected to. He objected to the person being retweeted.

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker announced the full details of the much-anticipated bill that would lift the statewide prohibition on marijuana and allow Illinois pot shops to start selling the drug legally by the start of the new year.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/pr...-legalization/


Good for Illinois.

Governor Pritzker is the third-wealthiest U.S. politician to have ever held office, after Michael Bloomberg and Donald Trump.

He's also under investigation for property tax fraud.

https://www.illinoispolicy.org/pritz...ty-tax-scheme/

It's May 2019, with a year or so to go before Primaries start, and the worse Republicans are during that time the less Dems will be wanting to excuse their support for rampant bigotry. The Polls right now mean little to the primaries next year, and whether or not he's the most popular of the crowded field it doesn't make his nomination a sure/good thing. 'Most Popular in a Crowded Field' gave us Trump after all, and I don't think 36% should speak for the majority either.

I get Biden's nomination isn't a sure thing, but if he thinks he can be a good President, it would be foolish for him to look at the numbers and think he should drop out.

The numbers also suggest his loss isn't a sure thing, either.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/...67530828173313

I hope you all know that the Kentucky Derby travesty was a result of all of your liberal political correctness. See what you all did!