U.S. Politics: Comey, Comey, Comey, Comey, Comey Chameleon

[Mexal]

3 minutes ago, Fez said:

Has he actually been offered a position or is he just saying he would if one were offered? Its very unusual for an appointee to make the announcement of their appointment themselves, even among Trump's appointees.

Also, if its not a position that requires senate confirmation, its not one of the more important.

Still, its a shitty thing to even think about, and if its true, I wonder if anyone's told Kelly about it.

It's a secretarial position so not senate confirmable. Still, hate him getting a job. He should be in jail.

[Kalbear]

Just now, Mexal said:

It's a secretarial position so not senate confirmable. Still, hate him getting a job. He should be in jail.

There's no reason both can't be the case.

[Fez]

I'm wondering if in fact Kelly wasn't consulted and is pushing back now.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

4 hours ago, Kalbear said:

 

It's not about media though. In this case, there are genuinely a whole lot of Americans who would be thrilled to have Trump gun down a black male. 

 

I do agree that it's possible that a lot of his strongest supporters might approve, or at least be indifferent about it. But that said, it's important to remember that a majority of Republican primary voters rejected Trump. I strongly suspect that an overwhelming majority of them would dump Trump in a heart beat if he killed someone. And moreover, just about every Democrat and Independent would vote against him for it. 

Plus ya know, the cops might not approve. 

Also of note, one of his strongest supporters is starting to bail on him:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/coulter-disappointment-donald-trump_us_591a4014e4b07d5f6ba578e4

Quote

“I think everyone who voted for him knew his personality was grotesque, it was the issues,” she told The Daily Caller.  

Now, making an argument about the issues is more difficult: “Boy, things don’t look good,” she said.

“I’m not very happy with what has happened so far,” Coulter said. “I guess we have to try to push him to keep his promises. But this isn’t North Korea, and if he doesn’t keep his promises I’m out.”

 

[Sivin]

3 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

I do agree that it's possible that a lot of his strongest supporters might approve, or at least be indifferent about it. But that said, it's important to remember that a majority of Republican primary voters rejected Trump. I strongly suspect that an overwhelming majority of them would dump Trump in a heart beat if he killed someone. And moreover, just about every Democrat and Independent would vote against him for it. 

Plus ya know, the cops might not approve. 

 

HA! You think the cops would protest if he shot a black person?

ETA: Perhaps I was too hasty with my post. I'm sure they'd be annoyed if they didn't get to participate.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

36 minutes ago, Fez said:

I'm wondering if in fact Kelly wasn't consulted and is pushing back now.

Could always be worse:

http://fox6now.com/2017/05/10/sheriff-clarke-for-fbi-director-his-name-mentioned-as-possible-comey-replacement/

[Kalbear]

2 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

I do agree that it's possible that a lot of his strongest supporters might approve, or at least be indifferent about it. But that said, it's important to remember that a majority of Republican primary voters rejected Trump. I strongly suspect that an overwhelming majority of them would dump Trump in a heart beat if he killed someone. And moreover, just about every Democrat and Independent would vote against him for it. 

As we've seen, the primary doesn't matter. Cruz, Rubio, Chaffetz, Ryan - all were absurdly against Trump in the primary. What are they now?

Republicans fall in line. That's the rule. They'll back Trump because they would never vote for a Democrat. And they voted for Trump - if they had to say that they were somehow wrong, well, that would be completely horrible in every way. They cannot realistically do this. 

 

[Zorral]

Impeachment is in the mix. 

He has proven himself to millions who might have been on the fence to be a clear and present danger to the security of the US -- and, I must add, to the economy. 

Additionally no Rs are willing to go out there and defend him either: Quote:

Quote

 

“We have tried tonight to get Republicans to come out and talk to us,” Fox News host Bret Baier said on his show Tuesday evening, “and there are not Republicans willing to go on camera tonight as of yet and we will see if that changes.” 

Charlie Rose, the host of “CBS This Morning,” said on Wednesday that the show asked 20 different Republican lawmakers to appear and couldn’t find a single taker.

 

His base might support him if he killed a black person -- but liberals, as said above, absolutely would not!  Nor would black people nor many millions of others, including those millions who gave the popular vote to somebody who was not him!  So he says, massive voter fraud.  The only fraud is HIM.  And he whines whines whines that nobody has ever been treated worse than him, and he can prove it.  What about Lincoln, hmmmm?  What about, o my, Obama?  Or Hillary, and she wasn't even POTUS. What a frackin' baby.  He's disgusting and shouldn't be let out of a rubber room. But he's going to have meetings with top level politicos in europe.  Lordessa knows what he'll do there.  (He's also whining he doesn't want to do 8 days, why not 5?  why not even fewer? -- he has to be fired.  He can't and won't do his job even.)

[Fragile Bird]

BREAKING NEWS!

Special Counsel has been named by Rosenstein, former FBI director Bob Mueller.

[Fez]

15 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

Could always be worse:

http://fox6now.com/2017/05/10/sheriff-clarke-for-fbi-director-his-name-mentioned-as-possible-comey-replacement/

He won't do it. The temptation to troll Democrats by naming Joe Lieberman FBI Director will be too great to resist.

 

Also, not as big as Mueller news mentioned above, but also noteworthy: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/house-majority-leader-to-colleagues-in-2016-i-think-putin-pays-trump/2017/05/17/515f6f8a-3aff-11e7-8854-21f359183e8c_story.html?pushid=591cc76bfdd5491d00000055&tid=notifi_push_breaking-news&utm_term=.5651c2d3ab7c

Quote

 

A month before Donald Trump clinched the Republican nomination, one of his closest allies in Congress — House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy — made a politically explosive assertion in a private conversation on Capitol Hill with his fellow GOP leaders: that Trump could be the beneficiary of payments from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“There’s two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump,” McCarthy (R-Calif.) said, according to a recording of the June 15, 2016 exchange, which was listened to and verified by The Washington Post. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher is a Californian Republican known in Congress as a fervent defender of Putin and Russia.

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) immediately interjected, stopping the conversation from further exploring McCarthy’s assertion, and swore the Republicans present to secrecy.

Before the conversation, McCarthy and Ryan had emerged from separate talks at the U.S. Capitol with Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, who had described a Kremlin tactic of financing populist politicians to undercut Eastern European democratic institutions.

 

 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

6 minutes ago, Kalbear said:

As we've seen, the primary doesn't matter. Cruz, Rubio, Chaffetz, Ryan - all were absurdly against Trump in the primary. What are they now?

Republicans fall in line. That's the rule. They'll back Trump because they would never vote for a Democrat. And they voted for Trump - if they had to say that they were somehow wrong, well, that would be completely horrible in every way. They cannot realistically do this. 

 

I wouldn't conflate elected official with the electorate. Cruz is a sleaze bag, so it should shock nobody that he fell line even after Trump made fun of his wife and called his father a murderer. His poll numbers dropped a lot in Texas after his stunt at the convention, and he's the type of guy who would push his mother in front of a bus to get reelected, so it should come as no surprise that he dropped to his knees and kissed Trump's ring like the servile puppy dog that he is. Same basically goes for Ryan. He was all about taking a principled stand against Trump until he was getting booed at events back home by crowds that would normally cheer for him farting. Those two care only about their reelections. Chaffetz isn't much better, but at least he' starting to show a tiny bit of spine. Rubio, on the other hand, still hates Trump and doesn't try to hide it that much. I fully suspect that if the Senate were to ever convict Trump during the impeachment proceedings, Rubio would be one of the first to turn on him, especially if it's over Russia. 

All that said, the voters' behaviors are not the same. No, I would not expect many to flip and vote for a Democrat, but that doesn't matter, because a lot of them will just stay home. They'll likely fall back in line in 2022, but a large portion of them will not reelect Trump if he publicly killed someone. And they don't have to admit they were wrong for supporting Trump in 2016. They'll just do some serious mental gymnastics to justify their actions. We've seen a few people do it in these very threads. 

[Kalbear]

5 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

I wouldn't conflate elected official with the electorate. Cruz is a sleaze bag, so it should shock nobody that he fell line even after Trump made fun of his wife and called his father a murderer. His poll numbers dropped a lot in Texas after his stunt at the convention, and he's the type of guy who would push his mother in front of a bus to get reelected, so it should come as no surprise that he dropped to his knees and kissed Trump's ring like the servile puppy dog that he is. Same basically goes for Ryan. He was all about taking a principled stand against Trump until he was getting booed at events back home by crowds that would normally cheer for him farting. Those two care only about their reelections. Chaffetz isn't much better, but at least he' starting to show a tiny bit of spine. Rubio, on the other hand, still hates Trump and doesn't try to hide it that much. I fully suspect that if the Senate were to ever convict Trump during the impeachment proceedings, Rubio would be one of the first to turn on him, especially if it's over Russia. 

All that said, the voters' behaviors are not the same. No, I would not expect many to flip and vote for a Democrat, but that doesn't matter, because a lot of them will just stay home. They'll likely fall back in line in 2022, but a large portion of them will not reelect Trump if he publicly killed someone. And they don't have to admit they were wrong for supporting Trump in 2016. They'll just do some serious mental gymnastics to justify their actions. We've seen a few people do it in these very threads. 

I'm simply saying using primary numbers to predict people not voting for Trump or supporting Trump now that he is POTUS seems suspect. He is still supported by over 80% of Republicans, and 40% support him 'strongly' - that's well above what you'd see from his primary numbers alone. 

You're right that many would stay home. But I think I'm right that you would not see the kind of outrage that some are expecting to see. Seriously, the news source that half the US apparently uses regularly wasn't reporting the Comey memo story at all, nor were they reporting the Russia leak at all. They simply ignored it. 

[Mlle. Zabzie]

18 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

BREAKING NEWS!

Special Counsel has been named by Rosenstein, former FBI director Bob Meuller.

JFC.  Here we go?  Or not?

Also Chaffetz isn't running for reelection.  Thus, the growth of spine, IMO.

[Fragile Bird]

Since I'm sure everyone has questions about what a special counsel is v. special prosecutor, here's an explanation: https://www.yahoo.com/news/special-prosecutor-independent-counsel-special-204900099.html

[Kalbear]

Just now, Mlle. Zabzie said:

JFC.  Here we go?  Or not?

Also Chaffetz isn't running for reelection.  Thus, the growth of spine, IMO.

Maybe? The Counsel isn't the same thing as what Starr was, and doesn't have the same kind of funding or latitude - but putting Mueller there makes it significantly more serious and bipartisan. He's the person who held the position the longest after Hoover, and Comey was his assistant. 

In particular I'm a bit worried that Rosenstein or Sessions can interfere in small and big ways, as he's technically still in the chain of command of the Justice Department (and Trump). But it's a good sign otherwise. It also likely answers the question of why Rosenstein went to the Senate the other day. 

[Mlle. Zabzie]

1 minute ago, Kalbear said:

Maybe? The Counsel isn't the same thing as what Starr was, and doesn't have the same kind of funding or latitude - but putting Mueller there makes it significantly more serious and bipartisan. He's the person who held the position the longest after Hoover, and Comey was his assistant. 

In particular I'm a bit worried that Rosenstein or Sessions can interfere in small and big ways, as he's technically still in the chain of command of the Justice Department (and Trump). But it's a good sign otherwise. It also likely answers the question of why Rosenstein went to the Senate the other day. 

Yeah, I'm in the maybe camp.

And the Wapo just published This.  Transcript of House Majority Leader discussing Trump said that he thinks Putin pays Trump.  Maybe off the cuff but still.

[DMC]

8 minutes ago, Kalbear said:

Seriously, the news source that half the US apparently uses regularly wasn't reporting the Comey memo story at all, nor were they reporting the Russia leak at all. They simply ignored it. 

That's simply not true - at least if you're referring to FNC.  For whatever reason (maybe I'm masochistic) I actually watched the opening blocs to Bret Baier and The Five last night.  Both were entirely about the Comey memo.  Granted, the interpretation was radically different, but they certainly were talking about.

Anyway, your assertion about Trump killing someone leading to increased poll numbers is wrong for one simple reason:  social desirability bias.  Maybe if you could design an IAT you could demonstrate a lot of his voters were happy he killed Rosie or something, but a lot of them are not going to effectively condone such an action on a survey item.

[Kalbear]

Just now, dmc515 said:

That's simply not true - at least if you're referring to FNC.  For whatever reason (maybe I'm masochistic) I actually watched the opening blocs to Bret Baier and The Five last night.  Both were entirely about the Comey memo.  Granted, the interpretation was radically different, but they certainly were talking about.

I don't honestly know; I know that for hours after it broke they were showing nothing at all about that, and were actually talking about Ted Allen's show being cancelled and the Clinton Foundation. 

Just now, dmc515 said:

Anyway, your assertion about Trump killing someone leading to increased poll numbers is wrong for one simple reason:  social desirability bias.  Maybe if you could design an IAT you could demonstrate a lot of his voters were happy he killed Rosie or something, but a lot of them are not going to effectively condone such an action on a survey item.

That's fair. I still suspect that most would support him depending on who he killed. Christ, imagine him shooting a Muslim man. 

[Fragile Bird]

Apparently Rosenstein took the WH by surprise on the Mueller announcement, giving only one hour's notice.  Did it by the book since Sessions is recused from the investigation.

There still is no official statement from the WH.

Mueller can step right into the FBI investigation.

[DMC]

8 minutes ago, Kalbear said:

I don't honestly know; I know that for hours after it broke they were showing nothing at all about that, and were actually talking about Ted Allen's show being cancelled and the Clinton Foundation. 

Gotcha - I did not watch any of it during the afternoon.  Sure they were busy trying to construct rationalizations - in fact Gutfeld articulated one that been repeated today (i.e. "that's just the way he speaks/he was joking).

7 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

Apparently Rosenstein took the WH by surprise on the Meuller announcement, giving only one hour's notice.  Did it by the book since Sessions is recused from the investigation.

Rosenstein is probably trying to repair a reputation he's cultivated over a quarter century in the Justice Department.  I don't doubt the reports last week that he was pissed and threatened to resign after Trump used him by having him write that memo.