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US Politics: Speak Into the Microwave


Fragile Bird

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5 minutes ago, Iskaral Pust said:

Since the purpose of the wiretap story was to deflect attention away from demands to investigate his connections with Russia, the more out of control it gets the happier Trump is.  He gets to pander to his paranoid racist base while distracting from the one thing they they would not forgive him.  All the serious people being shocked by his flagrant lie forget that he doesn't care at all if he's caught in a lie.  

Every time we obsess about his latest lie, we're letting him set the agenda, we're giving credence to his lies (just like the Brexiteer claims) and we're overlooking the real issues. 

I really don't think there's any grand strategy to this; Trump just says random shit as it comes to him and because he's the President its impossible to completely just laugh it off or ignore it. Instead, the White House does what it can to try to back his claims; and failing that it lashes out and attacks.

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4 minutes ago, Manhole Eunuchsbane said:

Ya know, I keep hearing this narrative, but what has he gotten away with exactly? Yes this stuff is distracting, but I can't think of an example of something he's managed to slide through during one of these distractions. One example I keep seeing forwarded is the 2nd Travel Ban. The signing of it went through without a lot of fanfare, but so what? It's not like the Courts were going to react to it overnight. This idea that the public can't pay attention to more than one story at a time is ridiculous. 

I tend to agree.  This wire tap stuff has no impact on the ongoing investigation, so i don't see what difference it makes really that the wrie tap story is taking up cycles.  That narrative is now trotted out whenever basically anything happens.  it's become the go to talking piont in a lot of ways , for a lot of people whenever something like this happens.

 

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Just now, Swordfish said:

I tend to agree.  This wire tap stuff has no impact on the ongoing investigation, so i don't see what difference it makes really that the wrie tap story is taking up cycles.  That narrative is now trotted out whenever basically anything happens.  it's become the go to talking piont in a lot of ways , for a lot of people whenever something like this happens.

 

There's just so much not to like :)  We are logical creatures that see patterns and try to impose order sometimes where no order exists.  Chaos theory is a better analysis.  There is nothing Newtonian about this administration.

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9 minutes ago, Iskaral Pust said:

Since the purpose of the wiretap story was to deflect attention away from demands to investigate his connections with Russia, the more out of control it gets the happier Trump is.  He gets to pander to his paranoid racist base while distracting from the one thing they they would not forgive him.  All the serious people being shocked by his flagrant lie forget that he doesn't care at all if he's caught in a lie.  

Every time we obsess about his latest lie, we're letting him set the agenda, we're giving credence to his lies (just like the Brexiteer claims) and we're overlooking the real issues. 

Is it really over looking the real issues?  Because, to me, I think they thought this would have blown over by now, but instead it won't die and it added a entire layer to the overall Russian narrative by pointing out that if there'd been any actual "tapp", it was for legitimate reasons.

And also, apparently the WH walked back the apology to the British now too...i think that's what I saw...

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5 minutes ago, Mlle. Zabzie said:

There's just so much not to like :)  We are logical creatures that see patterns and try to impose order sometimes where no order exists.  Chaos theory is a better analysis.  There is nothing Newtonian about this administration.

For sure.  It's sort of created this world in which people believe he's both a blustering idiot, possibly suffering from dementia, and a Machiavellian genius at the same time....... And yet, i can't rule out the possibility that both those things are actually true.

What a fascinating time to be alive.

 

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5 minutes ago, Swordfish said:

For sure.  It's sort of created this world in which people believe he's both a blustering idiot, possibly suffering from dementia, and a Machiavellian genius at the same time....... And yet, i can't rule out the possibility that both those things are actually true.

What a fascinating time to be alive.

 

Like living in Kafka's imagination, for sure.

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45 minutes ago, Week said:

Trump is delusional on healthcare. Claimed to have turned the 12 senators (IIRC, or were they reps?) that have come out in opposition.

Beautiful, beautiful healthcare. Obamacare is failing. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Edit:

Jesus, he's a child. 

I'm not sure if the number is 12, but they are Senators. The count in the House is currently around 60 Reps either saying they'd vote no or say they're leaning towards voting no. 

3 hours ago, mormont said:

The whole thing shows that there is literally no-one the Trump administration won't throw under a bus to get out of answering an awkward question. Damage to key international relationships matters less than embarrassing the President. The whole thing is crazy.

Spicer is now going on the offensive and saying he doesn't have any regrets about saying it.

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1 minute ago, Tywin et al. said:

I'm not sure if the number is 12, but they are Senators. The count in the House is currently around 60 Reps either saying they'd vote no or say they're leaning towards voting no. 

Spicer is now going on the offensive and saying he doesn't have any regrets about saying it.

We haven't had a good war with the UK for more than 200 years.  Let's BRING IT.  I hope that Trump can have his own Ballad of the Battle of New Orleans.  He'd like that.  That's something Jackson has that he doesn't.

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5 minutes ago, Swordfish said:

For sure.  It's sort of created this world in which people believe he's both a blustering idiot, possibly suffering from dementia, and a Machiavellian genius at the same time....... And yet, i can't rule out the possibility that both those things are actually true.

What a fascinating time to be alive.

That's an aspect of him that I think increases my attention span or interest in him. There is so much good comedy being generated from his antics. Whether it's Seth Meyers or Sam Bee or Stephen Colbert or Saturday Night Live, so much entertaining content is being generated around this guy that it helps keep me interested. 

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Note also that if Trump continues with  the wiretap story he can reasonably be sued for libel for damages to Obama per the Clinton libel case in the 90s. That he continues to pile on it over and over despite no evidence (and increasingly denials of evidence) makes this a reasonable thing to pursue. 

While that wouldn't necessarily be the most critical thing to do, it would be seriously damaging in his credibility and image. One of the few things that many Trump voters agreed on is that they did not like the specter of so many scandals over Clinton's head, and Trump's scandalous behavior has been bad for that too. 

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26 minutes ago, Swordfish said:

For sure.  It's sort of created this world in which people believe he's both a blustering idiot, possibly suffering from dementia, and a Machiavellian genius at the same time....... And yet, i can't rule out the possibility that both those things are actually true.

SChrodinger's Trump. 

Either a masterful media puppeteer, or a complete clown. Either way, the biggest sucker remain the American people who either voted for a clown or got conned. 

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22 minutes ago, Mlle. Zabzie said:

We haven't had a good war with the UK for more than 200 years.  Let's BRING IT.  I hope that Trump can have his own Ballad of the Battle of New Orleans.  He'd like that.  That's something Jackson has that he doesn't.

Is that why there's been a huge military increase? Good gods you saw right through it. Let it be remembered in said Ballad! 

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29 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

I'm not sure if the number is 12, but they are Senators. The count in the House is currently around 60 Reps either saying they'd vote no or say they're leaning towards voting no. 

Spicer is now going on the offensive and saying he doesn't have any regrets about saying it.

Not per the WSJ.  They are the leaders of the Republican Study Committee in the House.  Trump got their support by backing block grants and support for states adding a work requirement for the ability to receive medicaid.

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Separate post for two other things:

George Conway (Kellyanne's other half) is going to be nominated to run the Justice Department's civil division. George is a partner at Wachtell.  The Wachtell partnership will generally be happy to see him go, at least according to the people I know there.  That's saying something, given the makeup of the Wachtell partnership.

4 R governors have come out against the healthcare bill.  Will be interesting to see where it goes.

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1 hour ago, Iskaral Pust said:

Since the purpose of the wiretap story was to deflect attention away from demands to investigate his connections with Russia, the more out of control it gets the happier Trump is.

Even at the stage where it can believably be seen as causing an international rift with a close partner?

Besides, I don't buy this narrative. You could just as easily say it's stopping the general public from getting tired of the Russian story.

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Just now, Tywin et al. said:

Is that why there's been a huge military increase? Good gods you saw right through it. Let it be remembered in said Ballad! 

We could draft chicken hawks like John Bolton and Ted Nugent to do some of the fighing.

And then we could have the Ballad of Sir Robin.

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1 hour ago, Week said:

Edit:

Jesus, he's a child. 

To follow, this is what I was reacting to:

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/03/trump-merkel-and-i-were-both-wiretapped-by-obama.html

Quote

Trump to Merkel about alleged wiretapping by Obama: “At least we have something in common, perhaps.” She appears to be very confused.

and...

Quote

Trump did not defend the substance of his accusation on Friday afternoon. But he did defend Spicer’s slander of GCHQ.

“We said nothing. All we did was quote a certain very talented legal mind who was the one responsible for saying that on television,” Trump said. “That was a statement made by a very talented lawyer on Fox, so you shouldn’t be talking to me, you should be talking to Fox.”

The “very talented lawyer” whom Sean Spicer quoted was Judge Andrew Napolitano — a conservative pundit who has said that 9/11 “couldn’t possibly have been done the way the government told us.”

Which is to say: The president of the United States just argued that it’s perfectly appropriate for the White House to spread conspiracy theories that implicate close allies — so long as a 9/11 truther on Fox News spread them first.

 

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Just now, Mlle. Zabzie said:

That would ALMOST be worth it.

Yes, you are right. It would almost be worth it.

And plus there is the fact, I doubt Nugent's squad leader, platoon sergeant, or platoon leader would have time to change his diaper once the shooting started.

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So, I guess this is a pebble on top of everything else, but one of these days, some R lawmakers are really gonna get tired of the amount of shit-gibbonry that keeps hitting the news.

Quote

BREAKING: US attorney Preet Bharara was investigating Health secretary Tom Price over his investment in biotech companies when he was fired by President Trump, according to an explosive new report.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/324539-preet-bharara-said-to-have-been-investigating-tom-price

In other news, both Bret Baier and the increasingly awesome Shep Smith have now stated on air that they're not gonna help Trump get out of this mess by lending any credence to Napolitano's statements. I did kinda wonder how it would go over with Fox that Trump tried to pass the blame to them during the press conference with Merkel.

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