Trump

[Phoebe]

If this stuff is true, though, some of it is serious treason. I find myself hoping it's not true because OMG, if any of this is true on the scale and level being suggested, it is extremely scary to me. We haven't had to deal with anything like this before, and I don't think Trump supporters are for the most part going to be able to change opinions even in the face of evidence, because the wholesale discounting of evidence is one of their core beliefs. It's not just fake news, it's everything from the Greenland ice to immigration. Facts unwelcome, facts rejected, facts right out. I don't see this group cheerfully accepting President Orrin Hatch or wherever we'd have to travel.

The only upside I can possibly make from any of this is that Comey knew, and his otherwise inexplicable actions during the election occurred because this was the far bigger deal that had to be dealt with over a longer period of time.

[Phoebe]

Oooo wheee full Senate going to WH for NK update, it's just so easy to concentrate on the details of life. The weirdest thing is how normally life rolls along even under what feels like unimaginable circumstances. This man is making decisions, he is the decider, and the direct consequences include things like millions of people dying. Meanwhile, going to do some dishes and write up a thing, you know, casually waiting to see if we have lost a whole city's worth of people later this week or whatever. I don't think Barack Obama was some sort of superhuman with the world's greatest judgment, but I never felt the total lack of security like this, where major, major disasters could occur in the blink of an eye.

[Phoebe]

Times opinion piece on the political polarization of the U.S. I think he has his finger exactly on the problem.

[Phoebe]

What is even going on? I can't deal with the newspaper tonight. I have too much stuff happening to try to figure out whether headlines are some sort of joke or serious. This is my exhausted brain's translation of the last week: if NK tests their missiles, we are going to pre-emptively conventional-bomb the shit out of them! Yay! Thousands may die - no, hundreds of thousands, in minutes! And then: Millions more! Maybe nukes! Anything can happen. Here, this is our Nuclear Submarine checkin' you out! We are sending our aircraft carrier battle group... well, we sent it... somewhere. HA HA HA!!! We really DID send it at ya! NK, your leader is a total madman devil and we're going to solve it by ourselves if nobody else will. Oh sad, your missile failed. Oh sad, it failed again. Wow, NK leader, you are quite the cheeky character. You're maybe kind of clever. Is that trolling? Are we trolling you, like for being SO CLEVER when your bad missiles failed so badly? Or are we serious? Nobody knows! That's what makes it exciting and keeps you off your guard. And by the way, we'd be so honored to host you in the White House, or probably you can stay in Xin Jinping's suite at Mar-A-Lago. Phone me! Did I miss something? WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON IN OUR WORLD AND AM I AWAKE?

[Phoebe]

Of all the things. Of ALL the many THINGS, perhaps the very last one of all I would criticize Trump for is eating well done steak with ketchup. How is this an issue? Do we remember the Arugula thing? The Dijon mustard? People, we have real shit going on. Focus, instead of alienating people with these dumb culture wars.

[akiva]

Does Trump know anything about history? The recording of Nixon instructing the CIA to interfere with the FBI's investigation is the smoking fun of Watergate. So Trump does basically the same thing?

[Phoebe]

Reading about this latest obstruction of justice disclosure is the point where Ron finalllllllllly looked at me and said, yep, his goose is cooked. What do you know about Pence's involvement?

[Phoebe]

Did not realize the name of the Manchester bomber leaked due to US officials. WTF. Then the UK asked us to stop leaking shit while they were investigating - making everyone aware that they knew the name of the guy is kind of a big deal - and guess what? We did it again. Some "official" of the administration leaked more info. Great. What kind of penny-ante banana republic have we become lately?

[Phoebe]

I was feeling a micron of warmth toward Mr. Trump after the covfefe thing, because yeah, I get that. Then I heard Spicer tried to explain that as an intentional secret codeword.

Please don't criticize President Trump for playing golf too much. He's a known liar who just gave the middle finger to the rest of the world over climate change, quadrupled down on the most extreme version of his travel ban, and added yet another shameful, dissembling insult to the Mayor of London to his long list of similar international transgressions, instead of expressing concern or solidarity after a terrorist attack. The problem here is not golf! People often talk things over on the golf course. It's healthy to be out walking around, to the extent that happens in this case - point is, why not golf vs. another meeting in an office? I get frustrated. Can't believe it has only been just over four months. Trying to fathom the damage that can and will occur.

[poorpete]

Was is okay that Trump and Obama (and 'W') went golfing often during their presidency?

The answer is either "yes" or qualifiers. I have yet to hear a serious "no" from anyone. Hearing no "no" its safe to assume this is just all Team Sports shit. We'll hear about President Gillibrand's golf game a lot in 2011.

[Tahlvin]

Some folks I know on the right complained about the number of rounds of golf Obama played. So it doesn't surprise me that folks on the left are hitting back about the number of rounds Trump plays. And if you were on the right and complained about O playing, but you're not complaining about T playing, then you're an asshat (and vice versa for folks on the left and T).

As for it's okay for the President to golf, my answer is "hell yes, with qualifiers." It's a stressful job, and whatever you have to do to decompress, do it. And yes, discussing things with others over a round of golf (or doing some other activity in general) can help make the discussion more productive sometimes. The qualifier is that, optics and situational modifiers matter. If there's a hurricane hitting a major US city, or an ongoing, major terrorist attack somewhere in the world, then you're going to look like an insensitive jerk if you're out on the golf course instead of back in the sit room trying to address the problem, regardless of whether you're a D or R. And to a certain extent, the number of games will have an impact on impression, offset by other leisure/decompression activities they take. Playing a daily round, where you're away from the office for 3-4 hours every single day, is too much. Playing a few times a week, but without many other leisure activities, is okay.

My personal take on T.'s golf habits: It's on the excessive side, but perhaps it's better he's playing golf rather than doing something else.

[FlameBlade]

The reason why left is clapping back because 45 specifically criticized Obama over 20 times on this very topic. Then said he would never golf when president. I am all for presidents taking breaks, but I dislike the hypocrisy here.

However, in grand scheme of things, this are small potatoes, except that they lied about golfing few times already. Not good if nobody believes President of USA on a lot of small things or big things.

Finally, 45 essentially admitted to Travel Ban with his tweets. SCOTUS is not going to be happy with this, as this is a hell of needle to thread.

[poorpete]

Not an impeachable offense, but a resignable offense for sure:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexand ... 10c7906b4a

[poorpete]

As we reach the season 1 finale of Russiagate today, some now say it's a distraction to gut healthcare and Dodd/Frank. Everything is everything's distraction, I guess!

[Phoebe]

LOLLLLLLlllllllll God help me, someone has compared Eric Trump to Odo and courtesy prevents me from saying it there but it has to be said: this truth shall never be unseen.

[poorpete]

"Fan" fiction. Here's a way for Trump to be found to have committed a serious crime and almost come out the other side on equal-to-today footing:

1. Trump and members of his team, including Mike Pence, are accused by the special prosecutor of obstruction of justice
2. The legal agreement continues that a President cannot be arrested/indicted while in office
3. GOP congress refuses to impeach, or impeaches but does not remove him from office
4. Mike Pence, on the other hand, is arrested, and is forced to resign.
5. Trump pardons Pence for crime he is also guilty of.
6. Trump nominates hard-right congressman, a Cruz or Ryan to VP role.
7. 2018 midterms are a disaster for GOP. Trump is wounded but in power until 2021 and still has an awful VP. Just as would have happened without any collusion or obstruction.

[Phoebe]

Probably y'all heard this before but the head of the Ethics office apparently just quit in disgust, noting that there is, ah, some appearance that the family businesses are benefiting from the regime's decisions. Ethics standards at all time low = Trump making out like a bandit. But what do the voters care, eh? Why shouldn't our elected officials have the opportunity to enrich themselves at our expense? This is the modern way.

I don't understand what is going on anymore. In general. I'm just sitting here, bereft. No party, no group whose political ideas or plan makes mostly-sense, nothing. The world is topsy turvy but there is no solution, no clear way forward. It seems amazing that, like, yesterday Obama was our President and I felt pretty darn good. Like competent, intelligent people were finally handling things and everything was going to be okay. And then... It all poofed away and fell apart for reasons that never made sense to me and still don't. Yesterday people were sending racist birther memes around about our President and decent people were supposed to be tolerant because these Tea Partiers were so full of grassy roots and feelings. And now we have a champion birther and the same nasty false things are being said x100, and it's still the job of decent people to make peace and be tolerant and shit. Nope, if the Ethics guy had to finally throw up his hands and say, I'm out! where does that leave the rest of us? Bereft. That's all.

[FlameBlade]

Worst thing is when the meeting between Trump and Putin ended, nobody seemed to believe USA (and also Russia). Not a good feeling to have.

[Phoebe]

[Mike]