President Trump and US politics catchall

[Carter's Choice]

The Georgia Senate runoff really is big upcoming event, and should probably have its own thread?

Trump's impact on this race will be interesting. I personally think it will be hard to motivate GOP voters to get out en masse to vote having told them for weeks that the whole electoral system is a fraud. Trump's petulant behaviour must also be a turn-off for some GOP voters. Then there is the issue of Trump siphoning GOP donations away from the Senate run, and towards his own re-election PAC. All of these factors must surely be a negative for the GOP Senators? This will be an interesting contest.

[Ovals]

The Georgia Senate runoff really is big upcoming event, and should probably have its own thread?

Trump's impact on this race will be interesting. I personally think it will be hard to motivate GOP voters to get out en masse to vote having told them for weeks that the whole electoral system is a fraud. Trump's petulant behaviour must also be a turn-off for some GOP voters. Then there is the issue of Trump siphoning GOP donations away from the Senate run, and towards his own re-election PAC. All of these factors must surely be a negative for the GOP Senators? This will be an interesting contest.

The polls, for what they are worth, have both contests neck and neck - Could go either way but odds are against two Democratic wins. Probably depends on which party is best at getting its' voters out.

[Ted.]

I don't think he'll be figuring in Politics too much longer.

When those pictures of his hands circulated a few weeks ago, they reminded me of my Dad's; when all the Doctors want to do is take more blood, for more tests, & the bottom line is still the bottom line

This sort of thing?



In other news, Trump's Palm Beach neighbours don't want a bar of him.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/ ... -elsewhere

I was think more this kind of photo

That deep purple hue can't be healthy.

I did not know that McConnell was a polio survivor.

This from twitter:

Never thought I'd come out feeling like Polio was the victim in your case.

Harsh!

[Gumboot]

That deep purple hue can't be healthy.

Just like my mother's partner's hands. He's at death's door in hospital.

[Ted.]

Turns out that Donald's intent to live at Mar a Labour breaks an agreement he signed with Palm Beach that no-one will stay at the resort for more than 21 consecutive days. Even him listing his residency there appears to break that contract.

But hey, it's just another contract he's signed that he's attempting to ignore

It's actually 21 days per annum, not more than 7 consecutive days at a time. He also gave up all right to develop the property.

[Ted.]

That deep purple hue can't be healthy.

Just like my mother's partner's hands. He's at death's door in hospital.

Sorry to learn that, Gumboot.

What is causing it?

[Kiwias]

Turns out that Donald's intent to live at Mar a Labour breaks an agreement he signed with Palm Beach that no-one will stay at the resort for more than 21 consecutive days. Even him listing his residency there appears to break that contract.

But hey, it's just another contract he's signed that he's attempting to ignore

It's actually 21 days per annum, not more than 7 consecutive days at a time. He also gave up all right to develop the property.

We both know that he will ignore that contract and live there as long as he likes and probbaly develop it as well.

[Gumboot]

That deep purple hue can't be healthy.

Just like my mother's partner's hands. He's at death's door in hospital.

Sorry to learn that, Gumboot.

What is causing it?

Kidney failure. He's been in and out of hospital all year. As has Mum.

Fuck 2020.

[Kiwias]

Just like my mother's partner's hands. He's at death's door in hospital.

Sorry to learn that, Gumboot.

What is causing it?

Kidney failure. He's been in and out of hospital all year. As has Mum.

Fuck 2020.

Tough news. I agree with you about 2020.

[Ted.]

Turns out that Donald's intent to live at Mar a Labour breaks an agreement he signed with Palm Beach that no-one will stay at the resort for more than 21 consecutive days. Even him listing his residency there appears to break that contract.

But hey, it's just another contract he's signed that he's attempting to ignore

It's actually 21 days per annum, not more than 7 consecutive days at a time. He also gave up all right to develop the property.

We both know that he will ignore that contract and live there as long as he likes and probbaly develop it as well.

The local Palm Beach residents are not going to take it lying down. They will tie his Trumpness and the country up in law suits for the foreseeable. As the property is a listed historic site, nor can the fat fuck develop to his hearts content. He got a way with a certain amount while he was Pres, but the gloves are quickly coming off.

[Ted.]

Sorry to learn that, Gumboot.

What is causing it?

Kidney failure. He's been in and out of hospital all year. As has Mum.

Fuck 2020.

Tough news. I agree with you about 2020.

Ditto.

[Kiwias]

It's actually 21 days per annum, not more than 7 consecutive days at a time. He also gave up all right to develop the property.

We both know that he will ignore that contract and live there as long as he likes and probbaly develop it as well.

The local Palm Beach residents are not going to take it lying down. They will tie his Trumpness and the country up in law suits for the foreseeable. As the property is a listed historic site, nor can the fat fuck develop to his hearts content. He got a way with a certain amount while he was Pres, but the gloves are quickly coming off.

I certainly hope he can no longer carry on his business and life with the same total disregard for laws, regulations, and any people in the way that he has shown all his life. GO FUCK HIM, RESIDENTS!!!!!

[fishfoodie]

Massive lawsuit incoming.

A White House official who fell ill with Covid-19 in September is recovering after three months in the hospital, though he lost his right foot and lower leg in his battle against the virus, according to a friend.

Crede Bailey, the director of the White House security office, was the most severely ill among dozens of Covid-19 cases known to be connected to the White House. Bailey’s family has asked the White House not to publicize his condition, and President Donald Trump has never publicly acknowledged his illness.

Bailey’s friends have raised more than $30,000 for his rehabilitation through a GoFundMe account. The White House declined to say whether Trump has contributed to the effort.

....

Bailey is now at a rehabilitation center and will be fitted for a prosthetic leg in the coming months, she wrote.

“His family has staggering medical bills from a hospital stay of 2+ months and still counting in the ICU and a long road ahead in rehab before he can go home,” McCrobie wrote Nov. 13, when she created the account. “When he does make it home there will be major changes necessary to deal with his new, and permanent, disability.”

[Fangle]

Massive lawsuit incoming.

A White House official who fell ill with Covid-19 in September is recovering after three months in the hospital, though he lost his right foot and lower leg in his battle against the virus, according to a friend.

Crede Bailey, the director of the White House security office, was the most severely ill among dozens of Covid-19 cases known to be connected to the White House. Bailey’s family has asked the White House not to publicize his condition, and President Donald Trump has never publicly acknowledged his illness.

Bailey’s friends have raised more than $30,000 for his rehabilitation through a GoFundMe account. The White House declined to say whether Trump has contributed to the effort.

....

Bailey is now at a rehabilitation center and will be fitted for a prosthetic leg in the coming months, she wrote.

“His family has staggering medical bills from a hospital stay of 2+ months and still counting in the ICU and a long road ahead in rehab before he can go home,” McCrobie wrote Nov. 13, when she created the account. “When he does make it home there will be major changes necessary to deal with his new, and permanent, disability.”

Poor bugger.

[Ted.]

Proof of attempted election fraud. How many have slipped in unnoticed is the big question, but suggestions from a Republican lawyer are 2 million.

https://www.wsbtv.com/news/politics/flo ... KVMO5ESJQ/

[Sandstorm]

Proof of attempted election fraud. How many have slipped in unnoticed is the big question, but suggestions from a Republican lawyer are 2 million.

https://www.wsbtv.com/news/politics/flo ... KVMO5ESJQ/

Trump did the same thing. Nothing to see here.

[Ted.]

Trump keeps on coming top of the class, but being the humble guy he is, he's not claiming any credit for this one. In fact, he saying and doing nothing as all:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/ ... the-ground

[Hal Jordan]

Proof of attempted election fraud. How many have slipped in unnoticed is the big question, but suggestions from a Republican lawyer are 2 million.

https://www.wsbtv.com/news/politics/flo ... KVMO5ESJQ/

Trump did the same thing. Nothing to see here.

Banana Republicans.

[Hong Kong]

[Slick]

Trump keeps on coming top of the class, but being the humble guy he is, he's not claiming any credit for this one. In fact, he saying and doing nothing as all:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/ ... the-ground

I was just about to post on this.

I’m not one for conspiracy theories but what on Earth to Russia/Putin have over Trump? His Secretary of State comes out and says Russia were responsible for the hack and within 30 mins he is tweeting that it might not be Russia, it might be China. It’s beyond odd.

[Biffer]

Trump keeps on coming top of the class, but being the humble guy he is, he's not claiming any credit for this one. In fact, he saying and doing nothing as all:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/ ... the-ground

I was just about to post on this.

I’m not one for conspiracy theories but what on Earth to Russia/Putin have over Trump? His Secretary of State comes out and says Russia were responsible for the hack and within 30 mins he is tweeting that it might not be Russia, it might be China. It’s beyond odd.

Money laundering.

[fishfoodie]

Trump keeps on coming top of the class, but being the humble guy he is, he's not claiming any credit for this one. In fact, he saying and doing nothing as all:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/ ... the-ground

I was just about to post on this.

I’m not one for conspiracy theories but what on Earth to Russia/Putin have over Trump? His Secretary of State comes out and says Russia were responsible for the hack and within 30 mins he is tweeting that it might not be Russia, it might be China. It’s beyond odd.

Forget the Orange shitball; he's irrelevant at this stage; what is the hold that he has over the majority of the GOP; that they aren't screaming about this attack on America ?

In another month; if President Biden declares this attack as, "Casus belli", he would be perfectly justified in standing the majority of the GOP representatives in front of a wall, & shooting the traitorous mother fuckers.

When will they put the Country they claim to love, before their own politcal interests ?

[Rinkals]

CNN are reporting on an Oval Office meeting where Flynn and Sidney Powell suggested that Trump had enough to declare martial law.

President Donald Trump convened a heated meeting in the Oval Office on Friday, including lawyer Sidney Powell and her client, former national security adviser Michael Flynn, two people familiar with the matter said, describing a session that began as an impromptu gathering but devolved and eventually broke out into screaming matches at certain points as some of Trump's aides pushed back on Powell and Flynn's more outrageous suggestions about overturning the election.

Flynn had suggested earlier this week that Trump could invoke martial law as part of his efforts to overturn the election that he lost to President-elect Joe Biden -- an idea that arose again during the meeting in the Oval Office, one of the people said.

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/12/19/poli ... index.html

The original story was in the NYT, apparently, but it's behind a paywall.

[Hal Jordan]

When the likes of Giuliani are the voice of reason in the room, you know you are in trouble.

[Sinkers]

The headlines of the 3 articles linked in that article:

“TRUMP WHITE HOUSE
• Analysis: 3,500 Americans died in one day. The President didn't mention it.
• Trump remains silent as massive cyber hack poses 'grave risk' to government
• The US government has executed 10 people this year -- the most since 1896“

[Biffer]

CNN are reporting on an Oval Office meeting where Flynn and Sidney Powell suggested that Trump had enough to declare martial law.

President Donald Trump convened a heated meeting in the Oval Office on Friday, including lawyer Sidney Powell and her client, former national security adviser Michael Flynn, two people familiar with the matter said, describing a session that began as an impromptu gathering but devolved and eventually broke out into screaming matches at certain points as some of Trump's aides pushed back on Powell and Flynn's more outrageous suggestions about overturning the election.

Flynn had suggested earlier this week that Trump could invoke martial law as part of his efforts to overturn the election that he lost to President-elect Joe Biden -- an idea that arose again during the meeting in the Oval Office, one of the people said.

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/12/19/poli ... index.html

The original story was in the NYT, apparently, but it's behind a paywall.

1. We’ve got to a point where we’re not surprised that there are people actively discussing martial law and in effect a military coup in the United States. Whatever way you paint it, that’s hideous
2. At least there are some in the administration who realise how completely mental that is
3. I’m pretty sure the military would have no part in it. The heads of the services made it pretty clear earlier in the year that they swear loyalty to the constitution not the president.

But America needs a conversation about how it has let itself get this far.

[MungoMan]

CNN are reporting on an Oval Office meeting where Flynn and Sidney Powell suggested that Trump had enough to declare martial law.

President Donald Trump convened a heated meeting in the Oval Office on Friday, including lawyer Sidney Powell and her client, former national security adviser Michael Flynn, two people familiar with the matter said, describing a session that began as an impromptu gathering but devolved and eventually broke out into screaming matches at certain points as some of Trump's aides pushed back on Powell and Flynn's more outrageous suggestions about overturning the election.

Flynn had suggested earlier this week that Trump could invoke martial law as part of his efforts to overturn the election that he lost to President-elect Joe Biden -- an idea that arose again during the meeting in the Oval Office, one of the people said.

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/12/19/poli ... index.html

The original story was in the NYT, apparently, but it's behind a paywall.

Trump Weighed Naming Election Conspiracy Theorist as Special Counsel

In a meeting at the White House on Friday, President Trump weighed appointing Sidney Powell, who promoted conspiracy theories about rigged voting machines, to investigate voter fraud.

President Trump on Friday discussed naming Sidney Powell, who as a lawyer for his campaign team unleashed conspiracy theories about a Venezuelan plot to rig voting machines in the United States, to be a special counsel overseeing an investigation of voter fraud, according to two people briefed on the discussion.

It was unclear if Mr. Trump will move ahead with such a plan.

Most of his advisers opposed the idea, two of the people briefed on the discussion said, including Rudolph W. Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer. In recent days Mr. Giuliani has sought to have the Department of Homeland Security join the campaign’s efforts to overturn Mr. Trump’s loss in the election.

Mr. Giuliani joined the discussion by phone initially, while Ms. Powell was at the White House for a meeting that became raucous and involved people shouting at each other at times, according to one of the people briefed on what took place.

Ms. Powell’s client, retired Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, the former national security adviser whom the president recently pardoned, was also there, two of the people briefed on the meeting said. Some senior administration officials drifted in and out of the meeting.

During an appearance on the conservative Newsmax channel this week, Mr. Flynn pushed for Mr. Trump to impose martial law and deploy the military to “rerun” the election. At one point in the meeting on Friday, Mr. Trump asked about that idea.

Ms. Powell’s ideas were shot down by every other Trump adviser present, all of whom repeatedly pointed out that she had yet to back up her claims with proof. At one point, one person briefed on the meeting said, she produced several affidavits, but upon inspection they were all signed by a man she has previously used as an expert witness, whose credentials have been called into question.

The White House counsel, Pat A. Cipollone, and the White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, repeatedly and aggressively pushed back on the ideas being proposed, which went beyond the special counsel idea, those briefed on the meeting said.

Mr. Cipollone told Mr. Trump there was no constitutional authority for what was being discussed, one of the people briefed on the meeting said. Other advisers from the White House and the Trump campaign delivered the same message throughout the meeting, which stretched on for a long period of time.

Mr. Trump was defeated in the election by President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. by more than 7 million votes. The states have confirmed Mr. Biden’s Electoral College victory by a margin of 306-232.

But Mr. Trump, egged on by supporters like Ms. Powell, has never conceded and, holed up inside the White House, he continues to assert that he actually won — even though the baseless claims Ms. Powell and others have made of widespread fraud have been thoroughly debunked and even many of Mr. Trump’s closest allies have dismissed as preposterous her tale of an international conspiracy to rig the vote.

[Hong Kong]

A little joke for the bored

My penis is like Joe Biden

Slightly left-leaning, and nobody's first choice

[Saint]

CNN are reporting on an Oval Office meeting where Flynn and Sidney Powell suggested that Trump had enough to declare martial law.

President Donald Trump convened a heated meeting in the Oval Office on Friday, including lawyer Sidney Powell and her client, former national security adviser Michael Flynn, two people familiar with the matter said, describing a session that began as an impromptu gathering but devolved and eventually broke out into screaming matches at certain points as some of Trump's aides pushed back on Powell and Flynn's more outrageous suggestions about overturning the election.

Flynn had suggested earlier this week that Trump could invoke martial law as part of his efforts to overturn the election that he lost to President-elect Joe Biden -- an idea that arose again during the meeting in the Oval Office, one of the people said.

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/12/19/poli ... index.html

The original story was in the NYT, apparently, but it's behind a paywall.

1. We’ve got to a point where we’re not surprised that there are people actively discussing martial law and in effect a military coup in the United States. Whatever way you paint it, that’s hideous
2. At least there are some in the administration who realise how completely mental that is
3. I’m pretty sure the military would have no part in it. The heads of the services made it pretty clear earlier in the year that they swear loyalty to the constitution not the president.

But America needs a conversation about how it has let itself get this far.

For all their talk about how the constitution runs the country, the fact is that the whole US system is predicated on both sides acting in good faith. The founding fathers couldn't really understand the concept of winning at all costs

[fishfoodie]

CNN are reporting on an Oval Office meeting where Flynn and Sidney Powell suggested that Trump had enough to declare martial law.



https://edition.cnn.com/2020/12/19/poli ... index.html

The original story was in the NYT, apparently, but it's behind a paywall.

1. We’ve got to a point where we’re not surprised that there are people actively discussing martial law and in effect a military coup in the United States. Whatever way you paint it, that’s hideous
2. At least there are some in the administration who realise how completely mental that is
3. I’m pretty sure the military would have no part in it. The heads of the services made it pretty clear earlier in the year that they swear loyalty to the constitution not the president.

But America needs a conversation about how it has let itself get this far.

For all their talk about how the constitution runs the country, the fact is that the whole US system is predicated on both sides acting in good faith. The founding fathers couldn't really understand the concept of winning at all costs

It's based on the electorate being vaguely sensible; & those elected having some semblance of decency.

Just looks at the power of pardon; it's rife for abuse, & has been to varying degrees. Emoluments; the shitgibbon has just shown complete contempt for this simple law; but nothing has happened.

[Hal Jordan]

Trump raging on Twitter that a judge he backed to get elected in Wisconsin has voted against him in the latest performative grift case. He just doesn't understand anything beyond quid pro quo, no wonder he's proven to be such a dreadful "politician".

[Biffer]

1. We’ve got to a point where we’re not surprised that there are people actively discussing martial law and in effect a military coup in the United States. Whatever way you paint it, that’s hideous
2. At least there are some in the administration who realise how completely mental that is
3. I’m pretty sure the military would have no part in it. The heads of the services made it pretty clear earlier in the year that they swear loyalty to the constitution not the president.

But America needs a conversation about how it has let itself get this far.

For all their talk about how the constitution runs the country, the fact is that the whole US system is predicated on both sides acting in good faith. The founding fathers couldn't really understand the concept of winning at all costs

It's based on the electorate being vaguely sensible; & those elected having some semblance of decency.

Just looks at the power of pardon; it's rife for abuse, & has been to varying degrees. Emoluments; the shitgibbon has just shown complete contempt for this simple law; but nothing has happened.

It’s the logical outcome of last three or four decades of economic policy, where there is no value to the common good, and if you define any its purpose is then to be exploited for a return.

[Rhubarb & Custard]

Trump raging on Twitter that a judge he backed to get elected in Wisconsin has voted against him in the latest performative grift case. He just doesn't understand anything beyond quid pro quo, no wonder he's proven to be such a dreadful "politician".

He's much more quid pro nihilo

[Hal Jordan]

More pardons, including two from the Russia enquiry and four of the Blackwater hired killers convicted of killing Iraqi citizens.

The best people.

[Saint]

And two former GOP Congressmen - Chris Collins, serving 26 months for insider trading, and Duncan Hunter, serving 11 months for misusing campaign funds. You can read into that whatever you will

[Rinkals]

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article ... disciples/

If one can watch/listen to this not even very good conman for more than a minute without understanding what kind of industrial-strength depravity and faded, low-brow showmanship straight from the C-grade movies from the 1970s is being paraded here, then the IQ verdict is mid-double figures, plus-minus not much. Should you be in possession of a functioning brain, it is just impossible not to see how singularly deprived this man is of any redeeming qualities, a truly astonishing feat on the planet where even the epic scoundrels have some kind of emotional connection with another life form. (A KFC bucket and Diet Coke can cannot return adulation, so they don’t count.)

But if one can watch Trump, understand well who he is, and still support him, that right there is an ultimate EQ test failure. That means supporting literally every measure that was designed to harm humanity, to pollute/destroy the environment and condemn the world to irreversible climate change, to destabilise a planet in great need of cooling down, in every way. Like a true Bondian villain, Trump derives extraordinary pleasure in having his finger on the red button, in so many ways. His singular pursuit of personal gain is matched only by his disdain for science, decency and commitment to public service.

His hatred for Obama reveals just how little this man is when he’s alone with himself. His only true commitment during his presidency was to try his dumbest best to undo Obama’s legacy. A small example:

Many in America still relive their Davy Crockett/Daniel Boone dreams every hunting season by shooting everything wildlife that’s in their sights. For years, they were using lead bullets and often the vultures would feed on the carcasses and then die from lead poisoning. Obama did the right thing and banned the lead bullets, so the vultures do not die needlessly.

Trump reversed that order. He didn’t know. He didn’t care. He only cared about “owning” Obama and other “libtards”. Make them sweat under their lefty socialist whatever. Dead vultures, who gives a f***? They are ugly anyway.

Trump proves that, when you have a hole in your heart, nothing can fill it.

The full list of his failures transcends any single column or book. His evil is just so multifaceted, his failures are so vast and the damage so incalculable.

And yet, he was voted for by almost 75 million people in the US and is adored by many millions more around the world. I do not agree with these US Trump supporters, but can understand why they are like that: life was tough on most of them for years, they were laughed at, and they thought burning everything might not be such a bad idea.

Still, what I struggle to understand are the bulging-eye angry Trump supporters … in South Africa. Look, it could be the pandemic, his orange hair or his obvious racism (shithole countries…) that attracts our local people in search for someone to hate; I have received a lot of their mails for months now.

Unlike in the US, these are mostly not down-and-out people whose worsening life circumstances drove them to open racism and hatred of the media. These are often well-heeled people who just happen to believe that Trump is the best president ever and, yes, we the media deserve to die every time we publish an unflattering article.

And that’s what’s really bugging me. These people should know better.

They should care about the world and be aware of the marching autocracies. They should be able to understand that it is not good if we keep denying the very existence of the global climate crisis. They ought to know that the world is not safer if America turns into an Idiocracy. They must understand that a humanity divided cannot stand.

And yet, in the gardens of the fancy restaurants, on the right-wing, racist WhatsApp groups, through the squalor of the social media, the latest insane YouTube videos and the all-caps mails, they keep denying objective reality, perhaps in an effort to out-dumb their god-emperor even as he is about to be hauled out of the White House.

I am genuinely puzzled by that.

At the end, if you are intending to send me another angry/threatening mail or message, just take a number and join the queue. It turns out, you’ve found the way to beat your loneliness – you’re one of the many Trump supporters on this end of the world. You should not be proud of it, though. History will not be kind to both Trump and you, the people he conned.

[Ted.]

I think it would be a wonderful thing if the Senate Republicans vote in sufficient numbers to pass a veto proof covid stimulus bill. Trump will either have an apoplectic fit and pop his clogs, or even better, will split the Republican party and for the next four years campaign as an independent.

[fishfoodie]

I think it would be a wonderful thing if the Senate Republicans vote in sufficient numbers to pass a veto proof covid stimulus bill. Trump will either have an apoplectic fit and pop his clogs, or even better, will split the Republican party and for the next four years campaign as an independent.

The two crooks running for the GOP in Georgia must be spitting feathers at this stage watching the grandstanding prick screw up their chances of election; I haven't seen the polls yet, but I imagine the large numbers of postal votes in the runoff, doesn't bode well for them, any more than it did for the presidential election

[Ted.]

I think it would be a wonderful thing if the Senate Republicans vote in sufficient numbers to pass a veto proof covid stimulus bill. Trump will either have an apoplectic fit and pop his clogs, or even better, will split the Republican party and for the next four years campaign as an independent.

The two crooks running for the GOP in Georgia must be spitting feathers at this stage watching the grandstanding prick screw up their chances of election; I haven't seen the polls yet, but I imagine the large numbers of postal votes in the runoff, doesn't bode well for them, any more than it did for the presidential election

This is potentially the most important stage of his presidency.

[Snooze]

I think it would be a wonderful thing if the Senate Republicans vote in sufficient numbers to pass a veto proof covid stimulus bill. Trump will either have an apoplectic fit and pop his clogs, or even better, will split the Republican party and for the next four years campaign as an independent.

Ted, with regard to the Trump options above, can we hope that the 2 options aren't mutually exclusive. Getting both would be some win for the rest of the world.