**President Trump 2018 Thread**

[greg775]

http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/11/politics/tru...ttom/index.html

Trump hits the rock bottom of his presidency (so far)

 

 

Mia Love (R-Utah and Haitian-American)

The congresswoman, one of the few Republican lawmakers who called out Trump, continued:

 

This behavior is unacceptable from the leader of our nation. My parents came from one of those countries but proudly took the oath of allegiance to the United States and took on the responsibilities of everything that being a citizen comes with. They never took a thing from our federal government. They worked hard, paid taxes, and rose from nothing to take care of and provide opportunities for their children. They taught their children to do the same. That’s the American Dream. The President must apologize to both the American people and the nations he so wantonly maligned.

Too bad we can't fire Donald for his remarks. Saying other countries are s***holes would be fireable offenses if you or I tweeted that. We'd be representing our companies and bye bye. Don is representing all of us but we can't fire him. That'd be a cool question at the press briefing of his spokesperson and/or right to Donald. It's a fair question. Mr. Trump should you be fired for your remark? Would you fire one of your employees of a business or your TV show for such a remark?

[Dick Allen]

Trump is cancelling his trip to London, and according to him it is all Obama's fault. He was going to cut the ribbon on the new US embassy, but he said Obama sold the old one for peanuts and moved to a bad location. The very stable genius might be surprised to learn the decision to move was under the Bush administration.

 

 

[StrangeSox]

It was a general question, I wasn't doubting these comments. Every scoop for the past year has been sources or insiders, do those ever have to be proven?. A few months ago the NYT was saving democracy, now my Twitter feed treats them like Fox News. What happened to all the sources and.scoops they had?

 

Oh I see, sorry for the mistake.

 

They don't name sources and arguably rely on unnamed sources too much in reporting, but that goes back years if not decades. Even when their sources burn them by feeding deliberately misleading or outright false information, they'll still protect them. On the good side, journalists are even willing to go to jail for refusing to give up sources, which can protect really important and justified leaks/whistleblowers.

 

So it takes some understanding of that to read reporting critically. Often, sources are authorized to provide information "on background," meaning they'll be unnamed but have approval or have been directed by leadership to provide information. More common in this administration are just straight-up leaks. In that case, you've got to take a look at how many sources are claimed for this, whether or not there's a quick and strong denial from someone, whether other news orgs confirm the reporting independently, etc. So in this specific case, the White House didn't deny until Trump tweets this morning, CNN verified independently, and none of the Republicans present in the meeting denied the allegations. some of Wolff's reporting in that book, on the other hand, didn't have multiple independent confirmations, so some of the specifics there should be taken with a grain of salt (or read as that particular source's viewpoint, not objective truth).

 

Nyt still has sources, they do some bad editorializing too just as every org does sometimes. Twitter overreacts to everything in the moment.

[caulfield12]

The sale of the old embassy actually began under the George W. Bush administration. They announced in an Oct. 2, 2008 release -- a month before Barack Obama's election to his first term -- that the U.S. had entered into an agreement with real estate company Ballymore to acquire the new embassy site in southwest London and that the old site "will be offered for sale almost immediately." The sale to Qatari real estate developer Qatari Diar was completed after Obama became president in November 2009, according to The Telegraph.

 

The U.S. Embassy in London is funded entirely from proceeds of sale from other U.S. government property in London, according to the State Department. The State Department examined options for a costly renovation of the embassy in 2006, but that would have required an appropriation of taxpayer dollars and would not have met the most critical security needs.

 

https://www.yahoo.com/gma/trump-cancels-tri...topstories.html

 

Basically, they weren’t going to give him royal treatment, visit with Queen, London Mayor Khan wanted him nowhere near his city....this was the convenient excuse. Like when he disinvited the Warriors from the WH as a pre-emptive strike.

[Dick Allen]

Trump denies he said s***hole, which lines up with what the guy from the National Review, a very conservative publication, said yesterday. He said s***house.

 

How much more of this clown show with the republicans put up with?

 

What a 24 hour period for the Stable Genius Liar in Chief. First the FISA tweet, which he got all wrong in so many ways, then his s***hole/s***house comment. Then blaming Obama, again, for something Obama had nothing to do with. But it gets his base in an uproar, so who cares.

Edited January 12, 2018 by Dick Allen

[StrangeSox]

Sen. Durbin now confirming, in response to Trump's denial (which was prompted by Fox News, who now controls the country apparently):

 

"It's not true. He said those hateful things, and he said them repeatedly."

 

[GoSox05]

Trump is cancelling his trip to London, and according to him it is all Obama's fault. He was going to cut the ribbon on the new US embassy, but he said Obama sold the old one for peanuts and moved to a bad location. The very stable genius might be surprised to learn the decision to move was under the Bush administration.

 

 

They can't even get their bulls*** story right. He can't go to London because there would massive protests. Really the only places he can still go is Saudi Arabia, Israel and Alabama.

[Dick Allen]

Sen. Durbin now confirming, in response to Trump's denial (which was prompted by Fox News, who now controls the country apparently):

Like when he debated Hillary, and Hillary mentioned how he had not paid taxes in years. His response was becasue he was smart. He later said he never said that. His base believes.

[StrangeSox]

Like when he debated Hillary, and Hillary mentioned how he had not paid taxes in years. His response was becasue he was smart. He later said he never said that. His base believes.

 

Here's the scarier possibility: he believes

[StrangeSox]

One concrete problem with the president’s racial prejudices is it’s helped inspire him to leave the entire island of Puerto Rico languishing in darkness and disaster.

— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) January 12, 2018

 

[StrangeSox]

Video of Durbin's statements:

 

https://twitter.com/MPuccinelliCBS2/status/...820541488398336

 

Explicitly calls Trump's comments racist and says "you've seen the comments in the press, I've not read one of them that's inaccurate"

[Dick Allen]

Video of Durbin's statements:

 

https://twitter.com/MPuccinelliCBS2/status/...820541488398336

 

Explicitly calls Trump's comments racist and says "you've seen the comments in the press, I've not read one of them that's inaccurate"

I am not a fan of Durbin, but good for him for standing his ground and not covering even the slightest for the pig that is in the WH. He claimed yesterday he has a good relationship with Kim Jong Un but wouldn't comment when asked if he has every spoken to him.

There's never been consequences in Trump's life. He doesn't want to pay someone, he either sues them to a point it's not worth fighting or declares bankruptcy. He gets sick of his wife, he finds another one. He lies through his teeth, it never f***ing matters. Make this baby start paying for what comes out of his Big Mac breath mouth.

Edited January 12, 2018 by Dick Allen

[LittleHurt05]

Oh I see, sorry for the mistake.

 

They don't name sources and arguably rely on unnamed sources too much in reporting, but that goes back years if not decades. Even when their sources burn them by feeding deliberately misleading or outright false information, they'll still protect them. On the good side, journalists are even willing to go to jail for refusing to give up sources, which can protect really important and justified leaks/whistleblowers.

 

So it takes some understanding of that to read reporting critically. Often, sources are authorized to provide information "on background," meaning they'll be unnamed but have approval or have been directed by leadership to provide information. More common in this administration are just straight-up leaks. In that case, you've got to take a look at how many sources are claimed for this, whether or not there's a quick and strong denial from someone, whether other news orgs confirm the reporting independently, etc. So in this specific case, the White House didn't deny until Trump tweets this morning, CNN verified independently, and none of the Republicans present in the meeting denied the allegations. some of Wolff's reporting in that book, on the other hand, didn't have multiple independent confirmations, so some of the specifics there should be taken with a grain of salt (or read as that particular source's viewpoint, not objective truth).

 

Nyt still has sources, they do some bad editorializing too just as every org does sometimes. Twitter overreacts to everything in the moment.

 

That makes sense, and I guess it's something I never paid attention to earlier. It just seems dangerous in today's Facebook news cycle because people are so quick to react to a headline without even trying to determine the legitimacy of it. Then if it does turn out to be false, there's a tiny blurb on the bottom right of a news website that no one even notices anyway, but the damage is done. And that's as much on the sources giving false info like you mentioned, not just calling out reporters.

 

You are smart enough to realize that some of Wolff's book might be shades of the truth, but there's a lot of people that will take it 100% facts. A greater than zero portion of our population still thinks there is a gorilla TV channel.

[bmags]

Reince Priebus was one of the big early leakers.

[Dick Allen]

So apparently Trump thought the s***hole comment would play well. He made some calls last night to see how everyone liked it. When it was apparent it was a flop, he never said it. The world according to Trump.

[bmags]

I'm reading the Chernow Grant biography now. I do recommend it even if you've read Grant's memoirs, the additional context and investigation is great.

 

One thing that struck me going through all we are going through now, is how Andrew Johnson was considered shockingly racist at the time. Like even though it was a time where the government was coming out of legalized slavery and killing American Indians, there was still an expectation that the president act like he spoke for all people.

 

Not sure what point is with that but the whole "it was different back then" sentiment, it wasn't that different and there was always a group fighting for decency and equality that kept presidents from saying the quiet parts loud.

 

I've seen some takeaways that it could be good he is showing the real intent behind such policies, that it can't be hid behind anymore, but I was with a coworker whose parents were immigrants from Pakistan when this broke and they were shook. Not even a country listed, but they are constantly fighting the idea that they are unwelcome or not American (they are American). The symbolism of the office and country matters even if actions are hypocritical to it.

 

I don't know.

[StrangeSox]

My Haitian-born coworker was not too happy when the news broke yesterday, and reminded us that Trump also said they all had AIDS.

 

I still remember lostfan's post the day after the election, that he knew that his country hates him and people like him. Dismiss that if you want, but that's the message a lot of people take away from everything we've seen during Trump's rise.

[Dick Allen]

He's taking his physical today, which seems a bit odd to me. I am wondering if he wants to go back to his old life and will try to use this to bail, like his bone spurs. Make something up, he's got to go, Mike Pence, your turn, keep doing all the great things Trump has done....

 

Although that would contradict the healthiest person to ever be POTUS from 2016. I'm just wondering when they report he beat Kim Jong Un's record for 18 holes in golf.

[Balta1701]

I've seen some takeaways that it could be good he is showing the real intent behind such policies, that it can't be hid behind anymore, but I was with a coworker whose parents were immigrants from Pakistan when this broke and they were shook. Not even a country listed, but they are constantly fighting the idea that they are unwelcome or not American (they are American). The symbolism of the office and country matters even if actions are hypocritical to it.

 

I don't know.

Because nothing he's done or said so far has made that obvious or apparent.

 

There's a reason why Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell, the people every Republican House and Senate voter have supported indirectly, have issued no statement yet.

[Balta1701]

He's taking his physical today, which seems a bit odd to me. I am wondering if he wants to go back to his old life and will try to use this to bail, like his bone spurs. Make something up, he's got to go, Mike Pence, your turn, keep doing all the great things Trump has done....

 

Although that would contradict the healthiest person to ever be POTUS from 2016. I'm just wondering when they report he beat Kim Jong Un's record for 18 holes in golf.

Why on Earth does that seem odd to you? It's basically required of them.

[Dick Allen]

Why on Earth does that seem odd to you? It's basically required of them.

No it's not. It's kind of like releasing their taxes. This guy can not be healthy, and certainly not as healthy as was claimed by his doctor.

Edited January 12, 2018 by Dick Allen

[StrangeSox]

Trump just denied his ‘s***hole’ comment. In the process, he confirmed the worst.

 

Multiple TV journalists have flatly declared that Trump has revealed himself as a racist. It’s good that it’s now safe to say this on prime-time television, but we already knew that. What this episode also does is shatter the endless euphemisms and dissembling that Trump and his allies have employed to obscure a related truth: that the nationalism at the core of Trumpism is heavily driven by a reactionary backlash to the current ethnic and racial mix of the U.S. population — it is white nationalism, despite all the what-me-racist protestation to the contrary.

 

Trump’s comments also reveal that this basic truth is shaping the White House’s policy stances in the current immigration debate, something that is also being obscured with all sorts of rhetorical trickery. Trump’s comments have upended the negotiations underway over a deal to protect the “dreamers.” But it can no longer be denied that Trump opposes the deal at least in part because it does not do enough to resist or roll back ongoing racial and demographic trends.

 

Trumpism is white nationalism, and the GOP is happy to go along with it.

[StrangeSox]

No it's not. It's kind of like releasing their taxes. This guy can not be healthy, and certainly not as healthy as was claimed by his doctor.

 

Presidents undergo annual physicals. It's not weird.

[Balta1701]

No it's not. It's kind of like releasing their taxes. This guy can not be healthy, and certainly not as healthy as was claimed by his doctor.

Obama occasionally took Nexium to treat acid reflux apparently.

[bmags]

Because nothing he's done or said so far has made that obvious or apparent.

 

There's a reason why Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell, the people every Republican House and Senate voter have supported indirectly, have issued no statement yet.

 

I did not state that he hadn't done or said anything prior to hide his intent anywhere in that post.