Lollygag Posted October 10, 2020 Share Posted October 10, 2020 On switching staff out for more loyalists, I can see where Trump wants fewer people around who will push back and tell him no. He's found out that too many of our checks and balances have no teeth, so someone who doesn't care about their professionalism or things like the Constitution, tradition, or law, just Trump, makes a big difference. The timing allows Trump to be ready to make big moves between the election and inauguration day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMC Posted October 10, 2020 Share Posted October 10, 2020 12 minutes ago, Lollygag said: The timing allows Trump to be ready to make big moves between the election and inauguration day. Not really. He could still do it without asking for resignation letters now. This seems more like intraoffice sniping aimed at McEntee - with good reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lollygag Posted October 10, 2020 Share Posted October 10, 2020 10 minutes ago, DMC said: Not really. He could still do it without asking for resignation letters now. This seems more like intraoffice sniping aimed at McEntee - with good reason. Time would be lost doing it later. McEntee is doing what Trump wants done. One of Trump's signature power plays is keeping people hanging on a string to be able to fire them whenever he feels like it. The process itself marks those who have questionable loyalty to Trump if they push back on the letters. He wants people who think of him, not themselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMC Posted October 10, 2020 Share Posted October 10, 2020 2 minutes ago, Lollygag said: Time would be lost doing it later. No, it really wouldn't. 3 minutes ago, Lollygag said: One of Trump's signature power plays is keeping people hanging on a string to be able to fire them whenever he feels like it. You don't need to ask for resignation letters to know Trump will fire them whenever he feels like it. That's incredibly obvious to everyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalbear Posted October 10, 2020 Share Posted October 10, 2020 Apparently the resignation thing is typical, and is done usually between terms. Doing it before is a bit weird but not crazily so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lollygag Posted October 10, 2020 Share Posted October 10, 2020 2 minutes ago, DMC said: No, it really wouldn't. You don't need to ask for resignation letters to know Trump will fire them whenever he feels like it. That's incredibly obvious to everyone. I utterly disagree with you if you think Trump or his ilk are really focusing on routine admin processes right now of all times and just on a whim decided to do things a bit out of order. They're looking for every angle on keeping him in office and one is knowing who's going to sacrifice themselves to Trump and who isn't. It's his MO and he's going to be at his worst. He needs people who won't tell him no. What was he ranting about all day today? Bill Barr told him no on Hillary, the Bidens, Obama, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMC Posted October 10, 2020 Share Posted October 10, 2020 1 minute ago, Lollygag said: I utterly disagree with you if you think Trump or his ilk are really focusing on routine admin processes right now of all times and just on a whim decided to do things a bit out of order. I'm not even sure Trump is aware of this - and neither is politico in reporting the story - so no, I don't think it's Trump who's focusing on this. That's why I said it seems to be a story leaked to make McEntee look bad because he's being a dick about the resignation letters. 4 minutes ago, Lollygag said: They're looking for every angle on keeping him in office and one is knowing who's going to sacrifice themselves to Trump and who isn't. It's his MO and he's going to be at his worst. He needs people who won't tell him no. What was he ranting about all day today? Bill Barr told him no on Hillary, the Bidens, Obama, etc. If Trump wins reelection and wants to fire Bill Barr, he'll fire Bill Barr. He doesn't need to ask for his resignation letter right now. This is why your argument that this is in any way an effort to "keep him in office" has zero merit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lollygag Posted October 10, 2020 Share Posted October 10, 2020 1 minute ago, DMC said: I'm not even sure Trump is aware of this - and neither is politico in reporting the story - so no, I don't think it's Trump who's focusing on this. That's why I said it seems to be a story leaked to make McEntee look bad because he's being a dick about the resignation letters. The "you're fired" obsessed with loyalty guy isn't thinking about who's around him and who's loyal? He's always thinking about this. The story might well be leaked because folks are ticked at McEntee. Not mutually exclusive and doesn't explain why Trump is doing this. Politico says they don't have proof Trump knows but they also say how close McEntee is to Trump and there's been a lot of testimony to nothing happening without it going by Trump. He's a control freak. 5 minutes ago, DMC said: If Trump wins reelection and wants to fire Bill Barr, he'll fire Bill Barr. He doesn't need to ask for his resignation letter right now. This is why your argument that this is in any way an effort to "keep him in office" has zero merit. Bill Barr was just an example of Trump throwing a fit because someone's loyalty doesn't go as far as he needs it to go. For any other President, I agree with your interpretation of meh. But not Trump and not this situation where he might well lose all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMC Posted October 10, 2020 Share Posted October 10, 2020 11 minutes ago, Lollygag said: For any other President, I agree with your interpretation of meh. But not Trump and not this situation where he might well lose all. Again, the problem with this is Trump doesn't gain anything by asking for the resignation letters now. There's no reason to do this. Could it just be him being petty? Sure! But it still doesn't matter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lollygag Posted October 10, 2020 Share Posted October 10, 2020 11 minutes ago, DMC said: Again, the problem with this is Trump doesn't gain anything by asking for the resignation letters now. There's no reason to do this. Could it just be him being petty? Sure! But it still doesn't matter. Again, Trump finds out now rather than later those who just turn them over (loyal to Trump) and those who push back (loyal to themselves). He gives himself better odds of avoiding a Bill Barr situation where he needs Barr to arrest his political opponents now but instead finds himself stuck at a critical time with the wrong person in place and no recourse to fix it in enough time. And he's about to be very tight on time if the polls are to be believed. Don't get why this is so hard to understand. It's classic predator "alpha" testing behavior that we've seen him use this whole time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMC Posted October 10, 2020 Share Posted October 10, 2020 Just now, Lollygag said: Again, Trump finds out now rather than later who just turns them over (loyal to Trump) and those who push back (loyal to themselves). The article literally cites Ben Carson objecting to the letter and writing notes trying to express his loyalty to Trump. Whether people object to the earliness of requesting such a letter is not an indication of loyalty. Could Trump think it is? Yeah, and again, that'd just be him being petty. It has no substantive effect on anything that we should be worried about. Again, your Barr example is completely invalid. If Trump actually wanted Barr to prosecute his political opponents, and Barr refused, he'd simply fire him. Asking him now to offer a resignation letter has no relevant bearing on that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lollygag Posted October 10, 2020 Share Posted October 10, 2020 1 minute ago, DMC said: The article literally cites Ben Carson objecting to the letter and writing notes trying to express his loyalty to Trump. Whether people object to the earliness of requesting such a letter is not an indication of loyalty. Could Trump think it is? Yeah, and again, that'd just be him being petty. It has no substantive effect on anything that we should be worried about. Again, your Barr example is completely invalid. If Trump actually wanted Barr to prosecute his political opponents, and Barr refused, he'd simply fire him. Asking him now to offer a resignation letter has no relevant bearing on that. bold; to a rational person, no. But to someone with an animal brain, a "killer" like Trump, yes, it is. We've seen it over and over and over. The article clearly states their objection puts them in a bad personal situation which Trump cares zero about and means they're prioritizing their personal situation over his orders. He just did the exact same thing with the NDAs at Walter Reed. It's *too late* to fire Barr now to put in place someone who will arrest political opponents for no reason before Nov 3. You know this very well. Hence my points about time being important to his situation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalbear Posted October 10, 2020 Share Posted October 10, 2020 Trump is currently going on and on about wanting to prosecute Clinton and saying fuck on Rush Limbaugh. I really don't think the slight annoyance of anyone's resignation letters is really on his radar for even a minute. He is behaving exactly like the classic narcissistic sociopath does when they are slighted and feeling like they might, actually, suck. They're lashing out at anyone and everyone around them and blaming every single person and thing in their lives. It might bring him some vague satisfaction to say fuck you to some of these randos, but really they just don't matter to him right now when he's got so many people telling him how much garbage he is. Probably the folks he's most chewing out right now are Barr, Pence (because he didn't beat Harris on the floor with a stick and he had that stupid fly on him), and Pelosi and perhaps McConnell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMC Posted October 10, 2020 Share Posted October 10, 2020 3 minutes ago, Lollygag said: bold; to a rational person, no. But to someone with an animal brain, a "killer" like Trump, yes, it is. We've seen it over and over and over. The article clearly states their objection puts them in a bad personal situation which Trump cares zero about and means they're prioritizing their personal situation over his orders. He just did the exact same thing with the NDAs at Walter Reed. Like I said, could this be Trump being a dick to his staff? Of course. And if so, I frankly only see that as upside as it causes more dissension within his administration and campaign. I'd also note that just yesterday politico published a story about how many staffers are resenting Mark Meadows' current access to Trump. I suspect that story, and this one, are based on leaks from very understandably disgruntled employees. And that sounds fine to me. 6 minutes ago, Lollygag said: It's *too late* to fire Barr now to put in place someone who will arrest political opponents for no reason before Nov 3. You know this very well. Hence my points about time being important to his situation. No, it's not. He can fire Barr and the Deputy AG - Jeff Rosen - would take over. He was confirmed by the Senate last year, his succession would not be controversial as Acting AG (albeit obviously firing Barr would, but that'd be the case no matter what). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lollygag Posted October 10, 2020 Share Posted October 10, 2020 1 minute ago, DMC said: Like I said, could this be Trump being a dick to his staff? Of course. And if so, I frankly only see that as upside as it causes more dissension within his administration and campaign. I'd also note that just yesterday politico published a story about how many staffers are resenting Mark Meadows' current access to Trump. I suspect that story, and this one, are based on leaks from very understandably disgruntled employees. And that sounds fine to me. I already said this might well be true but it doesn't speak to Trump's motives. And just being a dick to his staff is part of his just being an asshole, but more importantly is the means by which he controls and breaks people. 3 minutes ago, DMC said: No, it's not. He can fire Barr and the Deputy AG - Jeff Rosen - would take over. He was confirmed by the Senate last year, his succession would not be controversial as Acting AG (albeit obviously firing Barr would, but that'd be the case no matter what). And what do you wanna bet Jeff Rosen will *not* arrest the Bidens, Obama, Hillary before Nov 3 which is what Trump wants and feels he needs? That's the whole point. He doesn't need just any seat warmer. He needs someone who will risk everything for him. Especially if Biden wins. Being able to fire whomever whenever is only part of the problem. Trump's biggest roadblocks these past years have been thinking he had a sufficient Renfield in place only to find at critical times that they cared more about their families, their careers, their reputations, the law. That's a lot harder than just firing someone. Hence the resignation letters as no doubt one of many loyalty tests. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMC Posted October 10, 2020 Share Posted October 10, 2020 12 minutes ago, Lollygag said: And what do you wanna bet Jeff Rosen will *not* arrest the Bidens, Obama, Hillary before Nov 3 which is what Trump wants and feels he needs? That's the whole point. He doesn't need just any seat warmer. He needs someone who will risk everything for him. Especially if Biden wins. And how is asking for Barr's resignation letter going to change any of that? He'd still have to confirm a replacement and in the meantime Rosen would be the Acting AG. If Rosen refuses? Then we'd have a Saturday Night Massacre on our hands. For the fifth time, this doesn't change anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lollygag Posted October 10, 2020 Share Posted October 10, 2020 15 minutes ago, DMC said: And how is asking for Barr's resignation letter going to change any of that? He'd still have to confirm a replacement and in the meantime Rosen would be the Acting AG. If Rosen refuses? Then we'd have a Saturday Night Massacre on our hands. For the fifth time, this doesn't change anything. Which still doesn't get Trump those arrests (or any of a long list of things Trump will have to require of people to stay in place if Biden wins). Too little time before January. You're fixating on the tree and missing the forest. The only thing that matters is whatever keeps Trump in office and he's cornered and out of time. Trump will be asking a lot of nasty things. He wants as few surprises as possible and bullying and mind games are how you filter those who are willing from those who are not by finding out what they're willing to sacrifice for him which is what the article stated is McEntee's goal. Trump's not getting ahead on paperwork when his world is about to fall. If you all want to know why Democrats are so goddamn bloody awful at the game and strategy and why Republicans are more disciplined and focused, here you go. This is a great example. I'll not be reading any further posts as we're just repeating ourselves at this point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ran Posted October 10, 2020 Share Posted October 10, 2020 These arrests aren't happening. What a deranged, paranoid fantasy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMC Posted October 10, 2020 Share Posted October 10, 2020 15 minutes ago, Lollygag said: Which still doesn't get Trump those arrests (or any of a long list of things Trump will have to require of people to stay in place if Biden wins). Too little time before January. You're fixating on the tree and missing the forest. The only thing that matters is whatever keeps Trump in office and he's cornered and out of time. And you've provided no reasoning for how this gets Trump those "arrests." Which, btw, is absurd in the first place. He doesn't actually want Barr to prosecute, let alone arrest, Hillary or Obama or Biden or whomever. He's just saying it because that's the same exact fucking thing he did exactly four years ago and it worked. Acting like this is Trump using mind games to get Barr to comply is incredibly naive and comically affords Trump way too much credit in his ability to somehow manipulate Barr with requesting a damn resignation letter. And presenting that as some Machiavellian strategy that Trump or the GOP does better then the Dems is ludicrous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ants Posted October 10, 2020 Share Posted October 10, 2020 What did I start by posting the article??????????? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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