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

[Tendrin]

Oh you know what? Let's just add to today's insanity!

Let's meet Maine GOP state congressional candidate, Leslie Gibson, who wanted on a crazy rant, attacking one of the survivors of the Parkland shooting.



See, this is why you got to run somebody EVERYWHERE!

Two more points in WBE's ass cancer pool.

[JBatmanFan05]

Tariffs and now the Iran Nuclear Deal, seems Trump is pushing back on feeling held back:

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he dismissed Rex Tillerson as secretary of state at least in part over a disagreement on how best to proceed with the Iran deal.

"We got along actually quite well, but we disagreed on things," Trump said as he boarded the Marine One presidential helicopter en route to view prototypes for his proposed border wall.

"When you look at the Iran deal, I thought it was terrible. He thought it was okay. I wanted to either break it or do something, he felt a little differently," Trump said.

http://www.businessinsider.com/trump...reement-2018-3

[JBatmanFan05]

I doubt it. Seriously, if Trump headed whatever organization, corporation or business you may have once worked for and you saw your former fellow employees, division heads, managers and supervisors being fired, one after another, via tweet...would you consider that to be a safe place for long term job security?

I really don't know, but I know we see politicians left and right and journalists mentioning to hire them back as if they know they want to return. So I would suspect that some or many are just that committed to their work and willing to deal with the fact that it's a... more turnover-friendly Trump admin.

[Tami]

I really don't know, but I know we see politicians left and right and journalists mentioning to hire them back as if they know they want to return. I would suspect that some or many are just that committed to their work and willing to deal with the fact that it's a, eh, more turnover-friendly Trump admin.

I did see one person interviewed by Stephanie Rhule this morning admit that, if Trump asked him, he'd accept a job. But still, I think those who would are far fewer than those who wouldn't. Commitment to public service is great, but there are times when self preservation is greater.

[ZombieHavoc]

I did see one person interviewed by Stephanie Rhule this morning admit that, if Trump asked him, he'd accept a job. But still, I think those who would are far fewer than those who wouldn't. Commitment to public service is great, but there are times when self preservation is greater.

Plus you can't pull a sunken ship out of the ocean by yourself.

[Tami]

Plus you can't pull a sunken ship out of the ocean by yourself.

Some may feel that, if they survive this they may have a place in a future administration. But odds are that most will be tainted by their association with Trump.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

I really don't know, but I know we see politicians left and right and journalists mentioning to hire them back as if they know they want to return. So I would suspect that some or many are just that committed to their work and willing to deal with the fact that it's a... more turnover-friendly Trump admin.

"Turnover friendly"? Are you fucking kidding me? ****, man, there should be a goddamn revolving door at the White House, given all the people who've come and gone! Anyone on the outside who willingly wants to enter that asylum needs a check up from the neck up!

I did see one person interviewed by Stephanie Rhule this morning admit that, if Trump asked him, he'd accept a job. But still, I think those who would are far fewer than those who wouldn't. Commitment to public service is great, but there are times when self preservation is greater.

How about sanity?

[ZombieHavoc]

Some may feel that, if they survive this they may have a place in a future administration. But odds are that most will be tainted by their association with Trump.

Yes, I see big things in their futures.

Maybe if Trump gets that coveted Lifetime President spot he's eyeing.

[ZombieHavoc]

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.

[JBatmanFan05]

USA Today opinion piece (from the director of research and foreign policy program at The Brookings Institution) on the Pompeo choice and opportunity:

Pompeo will have to be careful to retain, and build upon, what Tillerson got right. By all accounts, Pompeo is smart and has a good relationship with Trump. But as CIA director, he had the luxury of criticizing policy without necessarily having to produce better ideas himself. It is easy to say the Iran nuclear deal could have been better — which it could have been — until you are responsible for devising an alternative to it. It is easy to think that we should simply "solve" the North Korea problem until you realize that doing so, if carried out impetuously, could lead to the deadliest war experienced by Americans since 1945. I suspect that Pompeo knows as much. But now, he will have to prove it — not only to his immediate boss, but to the Congress and the rest of the nation that he will collectively serve.

Pompeo faces a challenge in refining the language and thinking expressed in President Trump's National Security Strategy of last December as well as his National Defense Strategy that was released in January. Both these documents paint China and Russia with a similar sweeping brush. But those two countries represent very different challenges to the United States.

President Putin of Russia is bent on challenging American foreign policy and interests in Europe and the Middle East — and here at home, with our media and elections — almost for the sport of it. He sees weakening America as part of his core purpose in life. He also behaves like a thug at home.

We need to accelerate our efforts to push back against Russia, especially here in the United States in terms of hardening our electoral machinery and democratic resilience. Yet at the same time, we need to explore new security arrangements for eastern Europe and Syria that could lead to compromises with Moscow. In other words, we need to develop a complex strategy of pushback in some areas, flexible and creative thinking in others. To date, the Trump administration has been largely stuck in its Russia policy due to investigations over the 2016 U.S. elections. It is time to try to shake loose of those constraints, even as the Mueller investigations continue.

By contrast to Russia, China is an impressive rising power. Its leadership under President Xi is much less reckless than Putin's, and China is helping us a good deal on North Korea policy in particular. Many of its economic and political practices are objectionable in American eyes, and its industrial and military potential require careful monitoring. But the Pentagon in particular is somewhat too quick to assume that we will wind up in hegemonic competition with Beijing; more nuanced thinking is required there as well.

It is a fraught, but also an exciting, time in U.S. foreign policy. I am encouraged that Trump has chosen such a bright and promising new leader for Foggy Bottom, while also now planning to elevate a woman to the directorship of the CIA for the first time in our history. I remain a critic of Trump in many ways, but fortunately for the country and the world, he continues to choose talented individuals to lead his foreign policy team.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opini...umn/419488002/

[ZombieHavoc]

It is a fraught, but also an exciting, time in U.S. foreign policy.

Ha, that guy can eat ****.

[TheInvisibleMan]

Putin is trying to get to the point where he can't start expanding Russias borders with no military or political reprisal

that's all its ever been about

[WestPhillyPunisher]

We should set up a dead pool to see who gets the chop next from Trump's White House. Here's my candidates:

Betsy DeVos: After Sunday's disastrous 60 Minutes meltdown, Daffy D is the leader in the clubhouse and only one bad interview away from a pink slip. Her rampant stupidity was on full display that night.
Ben Carson: Dr. Don't Know's office design debacle put him in a bad light, but would Dolt45 have the balls to shitcan the administration's only token (not that black people would care, in our eyes, Carson is a major sellout)?
Jared Kushner: If He Went To Jared wasn't married to Ivanka, he might already have been axed. While I'm at it, is Ms. Complicit on steady ground in the WH? You can never tell with Trump.

Who's your choices?

[TheInvisibleMan]

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

Spencer’s 24-minute lament came after a pair of botched campus appearances. The first was in October, when Spencer shouted at an audience mostly comprised of hecklers in Gainesville, Florida, while outside, several of his supporters were arrested for attempted homicide. The other instance was on March 5 in East Lansing, Michigan, where the number of people arrested for street brawling was higher than the number that actually attended Spencer’s talk.

[ZombieHavoc]

Betsy DeVos: After Sunday's disastrous 60 Minutes meltdown, Daffy D is the leader in the clubhouse and only one bad interview away from a pink slip. Her rampant stupidity was on full display that night.

I feel like Erik Prince has hooks in Trump too deep for her to go.