Trump II

[LesPalenik]

Hitting Trump's face with a car's paw isn't racist...

Not racist, but also not heroic or gentlemanly - with a car or a cat

[Schewe]

Not racist, but also not heroic or gentlemanly - with a car or a cat

I never claimed the site was heroic or gentlemanly...I said it was fun and therapeutic. :-)

BTW the site seems to be back up.

[Peter McLennan]

Hitting Trump's face with a car's paw isn't racist...

Precisely!

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

Precisely!

Or as a comedian (I didn't catch his name) said (something like),
"This is what it feels like when you get grabbed by a pussy ..."

Cheers,
Bart

[LesPalenik]

That's a good one, Bart

[Schewe]

"... get grabbed by a pussy ..."

:-)

Revenge of a 17yr old girl!

[Alan Klein]

Trump got approval for his hotel in Washington.  Whether you like Trump's policies or not, we can't destroy successful people's businesses when they become president. We should encourage people who have a lifetime of experience to want to bring that experience to government.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/23/us/politics/trump-hotel-washington-lease.html

[Schewe]

Trump got approval for his hotel in Washington.

What a shock...Kevin M. Terry of the GSA says his boss, the President of the United States being president doesn't violate the lease.

Steven L. Schooner, a former federal government contracting officer and a lawyer who is helping represent the restaurant owners, said that even with the ruling, the conflict of interest still existed, as Mr. Trump was both the landlord, in essence, and the tenant.

“The contracting officers’ decision favors the president, who, in effect, is his supervisor,” said Mr. Schooner, who is also a professor specializing in federal procurement law at George Washington University. “We want the public to have confidence in the integrity of the government, and this smacks of cronyism.”

The hotel has also become a target of criticism because, after Mr. Trump’s election, it marketed itself to foreign government officials, urging them to hold their events there.

Critics have suggested that Mr. Trump might be violating a provision in the Constitution that bars federal officials from taking payments or gifts from foreign governments, and he is being sued over the provision in federal court.

Mr. Trump has said that he intends to donate to the United States Treasury any profits at his hotels from foreign government payments.

Trump has also said he would not accept payment for being president...that he wouldn't keep any profits that it made by renting hotel rooms and banquet halls to foreign governments and that the committee that raised a record $90 million for Trump's inauguration pledged that, after running a no-frills celebration, the remaining funds would be given to charity.

So, how's that worked out?

Trump’s camp made three big promises to donate money to charity. What happened?

In all three cases, these pledges of generosity seemed designed to allay a concern about Trump expressed by some critics — that this wealthy president, who had refused to relinquish ownership of his businesses, might use his public office to enrich himself or his friends.

But nearly two months into the Trump presidency, little information has been released to show how, or if, those promises are being kept.

On Friday, for instance, the Trump Organization said it would not make its donations until the end of each calendar year. A spokeswoman provided few specifics about how the amount would be calculated.

Earlier in the week, the White House seemed to acknowledge that Trump has been keeping his monthly paycheck. He still intends to give the money away at year’s end, said press secretary Sean Spicer, but Trump has not yet chosen a charity to receive it.

The Trump inaugural committee has provided no details about what it plans to donate.

If “you have promised to take steps that would at least lessen the appearance of impropriety, and then you don’t take those steps, it would affect my evaluation of him,” said Erik Jensen, a professor at the Case Western Reserve University School of Law in Cleveland who has studied conflict-of-interest rules.

But hey, don't take Trump "literally" (in air quotes) take him, uh, figuratively as in ya better figure if his lips are moving, he's lying. But hey, he don't mean anything by lying, his just negotiating with the truth and the truth lost. Very interesting and telling article in Time today...

Can President Trump Handle the Truth?



Ya gotta read this to believe it.

Ultimately, democracy needs facts to allow for public debate and provide a check on abuses of power. "Truth has a despotic character," philosopher Hannah Arendt wrote in a 1968 essay on the subject. "It is therefore hated by tyrants who rightly fear the competition of a coercive force they cannot monopolize." Although Trump is a tyrant only in the minds of his most fevered critics, he often talks like one. "Any negative polls are fake news," he tweeted in his third week on the job. The Gallup daily tracking poll of Trump's approval fell below 40% after the release of his Obamacare replacement bill.

With time, Trump may find he has committed himself to a strategy that will deteriorate with reuse, because with each passing month the American people will be gathering their own data on his habits and tactics, and what they yield. They will decide whether it's true, as Trump has promised, that health care costs are lower and everyone has wonderful insurance. They will fact-check his pledge of millions of new manufacturing jobs. They will see whether their incomes rise and their taxes fall, whether Mexico pays for a giant wall. "In the end, Presidents aren't allowed to get away with excuses," explains Bill Galston, a presidential scholar who worked in the Clinton White House. "They pay a price for the promises they make." This is a truth that no one yet has been able to tweet away.

Before he got off the phone, I tried one more time to get Trump to answer a question about the risk to his reputation caused by false and ever changing utterances. Once again, he would not accept the premise. "Hey, look," he said. "I can't be doing so badly, because I'm President and you're not." As a factual matter, the last part of this statement is indisputably true. And with that, he graciously said goodbye and went back to running the affairs of the most powerful country in the world.

[Schewe]

Whether you like Trump's policies or not, we can't destroy successful people's businesses when they become president.

Hum, ya sure that Trump is successful? Yeah, he's got a lot of money (less this year SAD: DONALD TRUMP DROPS 220 SPOTS IN ANNUAL BILLIONAIRE RANKING) but how did he make it...well he started off with a silver spoon in his mouth from daddy's money but he's done well sometimes and sometimes not and sometimes he simply ripped people off. So yeah Trump in the Whitehouse is worrisome.

DONALD TRUMP'S MANY BUSINESS FAILURES, EXPLAINED

Lost contracts, bankruptcies, defaults, deceptions and indifference to investors—Trump’s business career is a long, long list of such troubles, according to regulatory, corporate and court records, as well as sworn testimony and government investigative reports. Call it the art of the bad deal, one created by the arrogance and recklessness of a businessman whose main talent is self-promotion.

I think Trump supporters seriously need to reevaluate what they consider a successful businessman. He's a slimedog, he's screwed people over and over to get to where he is today. At some point the facade will fall. He'll get pissed off with the difficulty of governing and leave or get impeached because, well he crooked or worse or he'll have a stroke or heart attack. But he sure is not cut out to be a good president and govern this country...

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

Republican Nunes apologizes over handling of Trump surveillance claim:
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-surveillance-idUSKBN16U2FE

House panel seeking more testimony from FBI, NSA chiefs in Russia probe:
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-surveillance-nunes-idUSKBN16V21O

It' ain't over till it's over ...

Cheers,
Bart

[Alan Klein]

Jeff,the election is over.   It's ok to stop campaigning.

[jeremyrh]

Jeff,the election is over.   It's ok to stop campaigning.

You're talking to the wrong guy - it's Trump who keeps on and on about the election. As you say, it's over - get on and be President.

[Petrus]

Does Trump have a driver's license? If he tried to be a truck driver he would loose his license in a minute (judging by his antics). Trying to be a president, but is going to loose it within 6 months (my bet).

Time article is worth reading, but of course one needs to be able to read first. So not many trumpists will see it.

[Alan Goldhammer]

Interesting that the President telephoned the two major 'fake news' outlets, the Washington Post and The New York Times, after the decision was made to pull the Republican healthcare bill because they lacked the votes to pass it.

[Schewe]

Wow...after 7 years of plotting and planning the GOP punts on healthcare even with the full help and support of the "art of the deal" Donald J Trump. Heck the House and Senate couldn't even repass bills they had already passed that Obama vetoed.

So if the GOP was thinking Trump was the great white hope, well not so much...

Trump's approval? 37%
Heck Obamacare is polling at 53%.

Trump's rating keeps going down while ACA keeps going up. Maybe electing Trump was a huge mistake...let's blame it all on the Russians (who are involved)

[Alan Klein]

You're talking to the wrong guy - it's Trump who keeps on and on about the election. As you say, it's over - get on and be President.

Good point.  But I actually think he's stopped.  At least I haven't heard him say anything about popular voters or crowds for awhile.  He seems to be focusing on being president.  Like I said before, he's a quick learner.

[Alan Klein]

Wow...after 7 years of plotting and planning the GOP punts on healthcare even with the full help and support of the "art of the deal" Donald J Trump. Heck the House and Senate couldn't even repass bills they had already passed that Obama vetoed.

So if the GOP was thinking Trump was the great white hope, well not so much...

Trump's approval? 37%
Heck Obamacare is polling at 53%.

Trump's rating keeps going down while ACA keeps going up. Maybe electing Trump was a huge mistake...let's blame it all on the Russians (who are involved)

The Democrats wanted to keep Obamacare so you would have complained about the Republicans if it was repealed.  So why are you complaining now that it wasn't?  Are you ever happy?

[pegelli]

So why are you complaining now that it wasn't?  Are you ever happy?

It's probably none of my business, but let me "help" anyway
I don't think Jeff was complaining, to me it sounds more like pointing out a certain level of incompetence.

[Schewe]

At least I haven't heard him say anything about popular voters or crowds for awhile.  He seems to be focusing on being president.  Like I said before, he's a quick learner.

Not so much...read the Time article...he tried to relitigate all of his recent lies. Presidential? Naw...

[Alan Klein]

So Hillary lied, Obama lied, Trump lied. Heck they're politicians.   Regarding incompetence, the Republicans were blowhards about Obamacare.  When it came to put up or shut up, they blew it.  All talk.  But that wasn't Trump's fault.  He really tried to work with them, down to a one on one level.  He's willing to get into it unlike Obama.  That bodes well for the future.  He'll bring Democrats into health care and other legislation in the future.  He's interested in making deals and getting things done even if it's only 80% of what he wants.  So he'll work with everyone.  Unlike Obama, he really likes to work with people.  He's hands on, a good trait, and not off in an ivory tower.