All-purpose news and politics thread: Two Steps Beyond!

[ZombieHavoc]

Mediocre mayonnaise jar Richard Spencer cancelling the rest of his college tour because "antifa is winning"

Ha, I'm glad they are winning. That's the point.

[kidfresh512]

This firing and rehiring of the aide is just fishy. He was clearly fired because he was never going to get security clearance and they can't have those optics of him in the WH in that position.

But if the reason he isn't getting cleared is hes being investigated for financial crimes as reported. Why is he so important they felt they need to take the risk and hire him for the campaign where he probably doesn't need the same security clearance? They are either pretty confident that he will be cleared eventually. Or its better right now to keep him employed so he doesn't seem like hes jettisoned and might be more willing to flip on trump.

Longtime Trump aide fired over financial crime investigation

[ZombieHavoc]

This firing and rehiring of the aide is just fishy. He was clearly fired because he was never going to get security clearance and they can't have those optics of him in the WH in that position.

But if the reason he isn't getting cleared is hes being investigated for financial crimes as reported. Why is he so important they felt they need to take the risk and hire him for the campaign where he probably doesn't need the same security clearance? They are either pretty confident that he will be cleared eventually. Or its better right now to keep him employed so he doesn't seem like hes jettisoned and might be more willing to flip on trump.

Longtime Trump aide fired over financial crime investigation

Well, I mean, some of the people who worked on his 2016 campaign have a good 40+ indictments against them for financial crimes...maybe it's like people who have to wear the same shirt every time their team plays. He's superstitious and is concerned that if he doesn't have white collar criminals helping his campaign, he won't win?

[InformationGeek]

And to add to EVERYTHING going on, Trump decides to tweet "research" from an anti-immigrant hate group.

[kidfresh512]

None of that equals "Mexico is paying...believe me"


Not having it

[Malvolio]

Mediocre mayonnaise jar Richard Spencer cancelling the rest of his college tour because "antifa is winning"

See, that's the way to beat these guys. Let them speak, but shame their supporters to the point that only a handful of them show up to hear them speak. Even worse than being heckled, is to be ignored by everyone.

[Jack Dracula]

Pompeo and Trump seem to have a clearer connection and Pompeo is likely to lead the State Dept more traditionally as far as staffing and etc.

That connection being between Pompeo's nose and Trump's ass.

[ZombieHavoc]

See, that's the way to beat these guys. Let them speak, but shame their supporters to the point that only a handful of them show up to hear them speak. Even worse than being heckled, is to be ignored by everyone.

Also, that dude sure is a snowflake, considering he calls for, y'know, extermination of races and such.

Not really sure what the point of fighting these guys is at this point. America already belongs to the racists.

[Jack Dracula]

Which by the way....imagine the right wing meltdown if in the span of a couple weeks Obama had mentioned both "taking guns away first, due process later" and that "maybe the US should give the whole lifetime presidency thing a shot some day".

I do love that the things the right wingers were afraid of from Obama are being bandied about by Trump.

I think he does that to throw off and break the momentum of the opposition. In this case the Democtrats relax and believe he may be reasonable, then he immediately doubles down on his original viewpoint.
I remember reading somewhere that believes it to be some kind of negotiation strategy to keep people guessing. He's done it repeatedly this year on various issues and will likely continue to do so.

[InformationGeek]

Wellllllllll, we got another one gone! Say good-bye to Under Secretary of the State Department, Steve Goldstein.

The White House has fired State Department Under Secretary Steve Goldstein just hours after his boss, now-former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, was let go Wednesday morning.

The White House called Goldstein to tell him he is no longer needed. Goldstein was then called up to Tillerson's office for a meeting. Tillerson spent the morning at home -- after flying in from Africa early Wednesday morning -- but he is now at the department. It is unclear if Tillerson will talk to the press today or not.

Goldstein has largely fallen into the role as Tillerson's spokesperson, and was unanimously confirmed by the senate last year. He has been on the job for less than three months and is known for being loyal to Tillerson. He has encouraged Tillerson to speak more to the press.

Goldstein did attend many meetings at the White House, and consistently said Tillerson was going to bring foreign policy decision-making back to the State Department.

[wjowski]

It's so awesome that so many people decided to abstain from voting in 2016 as some sort of bullshit protest. As a result, we have the awesomeness that has been 2017/2018.

Thanks, guys.

Don't forget the sparkling intellects who wrote in such political luminaries as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck on their ballots 'for the lulz'. You get the government you deserve.

[kidfresh512]

Kushner is doing the State Department's job anyway! He and Ivanka got this.

[Handsome men don't lose fights]

You people just don't get it! 4 dimensional chess is being played here! Yep, any second now, any second now, the curtains will come down, and you'll all see how the pieces connect. We're not being mismanaged by an inept solipsist, we're not! Uh, uhhhhh, liberal tears, liberal tears, winning!

[JBatmanFan05]

Some analyst or journalist on NPR this morning put it best: A year in now, Trump feels more comfortable in the role and is dropping some people that he conservatively relied on during a time when he felt out of his depth.

Pompeo I think coming into this role right now is probably at least partly related to this fast coming NK talks, where he wants someone he has no friction with.

[worstblogever]

Trump ousts Tillerson, will replace him as secretary of state with CIA chief Pompeo

https://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...=.e5e9bdab64b9

And next out? Hmm... supposedly Gen. Kelly and Steve Mnunchin have that "suicide pact" that if one of them goes, they all do. My bet's on Mnunchin, because of all the criticism he and his wife have faced. I don't think he's got the chutzpah to deal with it.