All purpose news and politics thread part v: The quickening

[WestPhillyPunisher]

The GOP are still going to claim that asking a foreign country to interfere in the election and dangling foreign aide as a bribe in exchange for that help isn't a "high crime".

Well, if that's the case, let's see what happens when a Democrat reclaims the White House next year and tries those same underhanded shenanigans, THEN we'll learn if Republicans still feel that way. Of course, we already know what the response would be, but I'd want to view their four alarm hypocrisy up close and personal.

[Tami]

Well, if that's the case, let's see what happens when a Democrat reclaims the White House next year and tries those same underhanded shenanigans, THEN we'll learn if Republicans still feel that way. Of course, we already know what the response would be, but I'd want to view their four alarm hypocrisy up close and personal.

Only a Democrat wouldn't do it since they know that, not only is it wrong, but all the other Democrats would attack them like rabid dogs and throw them out like newspaper used to wrap overripe fish.

[Mecegirl]

The meme's have already begun.

[PwrdOn]

Only a Democrat wouldn't do it since they know that, not only is it wrong, but all the other Democrats would attack them like rabid dogs and throw them out like newspaper used to wrap overripe fish.

Because the Democrats have such courage in their conviction that other countries screwing with American elections is just clearly ass backwards...

[AnakinFlair]

The meme's have already begun.

He looks like Dr. Evil. All he needs to do is raise his pinkie.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

The meme's have already begun.

I get the heebie-jeebies just looking at that dude!

[Tami]

Mike Pompeo planning to resign because Trump ‘hurting his reputation’, report claims

Donald Trump’s secretary of state has reportedly told three prominent Republicans that he is planning to resign from the White House to run for a Senate seat.

Mike Pompeo had planned to stay at the State Department until early spring 2020 but he is now concerned that his connection to Mr Trump, particularly through the impeachment inquiry, is hurting his reputation, according to a Time report.

The Republicans quoted in the piece reportedly include a former Trump administration employee and another who remains in the government, while the third has served in several high-ranking posts.

The report claims Mr Pompeo’s resignation from the White House will be timed to allow for the “smoothest possible exit” from the administration.

However, State Department officials said Mr Pompeo has dismissed the story as “completely false” and insisted he is “100 per cent focused on being President Trump’s secretary of state.”

[BeastieRunner]

Mike Pompeo planning to resign because Trump ‘hurting his reputation’, report claims

Our Oompa Loompa whistle broke, right?

[Gray Lensman]

Our Oompa Loompa whistle broke, right?

Worn out from overuse....

[worstblogever]

Mike Pompeo planning to resign because Trump ‘hurting his reputation’, report claims

Our Oompa Loompa whistle broke, right?

[Iron Maiden]

Mike Pompeo planning to resign because Trump ‘hurting his reputation’, report claims

I wonder if he read the headliner stories over the past couple of days. Sounds like he won't be missed very much if he does quit

NYT Thomas Friedman: Mike Pompeo Last in Class - In Integrity

It seems like every story you read about Secretary of State Mike Pompeo always includes the sentence that he graduated “first in his class” from West Point. That is not a small achievement. But it is even more impressive in Pompeo’s case when you consider that he finished No. 1 even though he must have flunked all his courses on ethics and leadership. I guess he was really good in math.

I say that because Pompeo has just violated one of the cardinal rules of American military ethics and command: You look out for your soldiers, you don’t leave your wounded on the battlefield and you certainly don’t stand mute when you know a junior officer is being railroaded by a more senior commander, if not outright shot in her back.

The classes on ethics and leadership at West Point would have taught all of that. I can only assume Pompeo failed or skipped them all when you observe his cowardly, slimy behavior as the leader of the State Department. I would never, ever, ever want to be in a trench with that man. Attention all U.S. diplomats: Watch your own backs, because Pompeo won’t.

He's also sowing Trump style chaos in his department: How Mike Pompeo lost the trust of the Foreign Service

According the the piece, Pompeo made three catastrophic leadership errors.

First, "he supported an irregular channel of communication and private diplomacy in Ukraine outside of normal, regular diplomatic channels led by Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch and later by Chargé d'Affaires, Bill Taylor."

Second, "Pompeo explicitly allowed a pervasive culture at State and within the administration that humiliated his most senior officers leading American efforts in Ukraine"

Now point 3 is where he gets very Trumpian "Third — and well beyond the scope of the impeachment hearings — Pompeo oversees a culture of political retribution aimed squarely at State Department career staff. In an August 2019 report, the Inspector General found “evidence of leadership and management deficiencies and mistreatment of career employees including disrespectful and hostile treatment of employees, accusations against and harassment of career employees premised on claims that they were ‘disloyal’ based on their perceived political views, and retaliation associated with conflicts of interest.”

[Tami]

The Gordon Problem is now the Trump Problem.

[BeastieRunner]

Pompeo is running for the US Senate. WH says no, Pompeo says yes.

LOL!

[Tami]

Trump’s sweeping rebuttal to Sondland’s testimony? Quoting his own denials of quid pro quo.

Recognize the Sharpie?

[Tami]

Not over, a second hearing starting soon

Impeachment Inquiry Hearing with Laura Cooper and David Hale – LIVE at 5:30pm ET on C-SPAN3, @cspanRadio
& online here: https://cs.pn/2QoK2Bw