# In Praise of the Obamessiah, and other developments of the Sally Yates testimony **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 9, 2017, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-praise-of-the-obamessiah-and-other-developments-of-the-sally-yates-testimony/786179 "2017-05-09T03:55:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-praise-of-the-obamessiah-and-other-developments-of-the-sally-yates-testimony/786179/1 "2017-05-09T03:55:10Z")
I mostly want to stand in awe of Barack Obama, who, on November 11, while I was having a nervous breakdown, set up Donald Trump by telling him that he (Donald) should avoid hiring Michael Flynn as National Security Advisor, knowing that Donald would blow him off and go ahead and hire Flynn, who was potentially compromised by the Russians. The White House is trying to pretend that Obama’s warnings were just minor stuff because of their personal history, but Obama has made it impossible for Donald to pretend that he wasn’t warned about Flynn or that it’s all his transition team’s fault for not relaying the concerns. Donald was warned last November by the President of the United States that Michael Flynn wasn’t suitable for a National Security role. Now the question will become, why didn’t Donald’s own transition team uncover Flynn’s paid role with the Turkish government or his questionable meetings with the Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. (Of course, Jeff Sessions and Jared Kushner were also having dodgy meetings with Kislyak, during that transition, right there in Trump Tower. Funny coincidence, that.) There’s a long long way to go before all this is finished. Obama’s made it impossible for Trump to say he wasn’t warned right at the start. I mean, Donald will still lie about it. Obviously. But he’s got a much harder job now that everyone can see behind his curtain. Further Reading: NYT Article about Obama’s warning - [https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/08/us/politics/obama-flynn-trump.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/08/us/politics/obama-flynn-trump.html) > [@MICHAEL D. SHEAR](#): > > WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama warned Donald J. Trump against hiring Michael T. Flynn to be part of his national security team when Mr. Obama met with his successor in the Oval Office two days after the November election, two former Obama administration officials said on Monday. > > Mr. Obama, who had fired Mr. Flynn as the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, told Mr. Trump that he would have profound concerns about Mr. Flynn becoming a top national security aide, said the administration officials, who were briefed on the Oval Office conversation. Mr. Trump later ignored the advice, naming Mr. Flynn to be his national security adviser. > > \ > > Mr. Flynn’s name came up during a broader discussion about personnel issues, the former administration officials said. Mr. Obama’s concerns about Mr. Flynn, which were first reported by NBC News, were largely about his management of the D.I.A. and predated the later concerns about his contacts with the Russian ambassador, Sergey I. Kislyak. > > But one of the former administration officials said that Mr. Obama was also aware of Mr. Flynn’s well-publicized trip in 2015 to Moscow and other contacts with Russia. Cnn > **[Obama warned Trump about hiring Flynn | CNN Politics](https://www.cnn.com/2017/05/08/politics/obama-trump-michael-flynn/)** > > Then-President Barack Obama warned President-elect Donald Trump in November against hiring retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn as his national security adviser, former Obama administration officials confirmed to CNN Monday. > [@Jim Acosta and Jeremy Diamond](#): > > Then-President Barack Obama warned President-elect Donald Trump in November against hiring retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn as his national security adviser, former Obama administration officials confirmed to CNN Monday. > Obama warned Trump about Flynn during their Oval Office meeting on November 10, days after Trump was elected president. > “Given the importance of the job, the President through there were better people for it, and that Flynn wasn’t up for the job,” a former senior Obama administration official told CNN Monday. > > Other former Obama administration officials said then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper didn’t think highly of Flynn, and in fact was the person who recommended Flynn’s firing as DNI in 2014. Flynn’s focus was generally limited to terrorism and didn’t know much about many other issues important for the national security adviser job, such as China, the officials said. > > But at least one former Obama official disputed that, saying Obama’s concerns were not related to the firing of Flynn from the Defense Intelligence Agency but rather in the course of the investigation into Russian interference into the 2016 election. > “Flynn’s name kept popping up,” according to a senior Obama administration source. ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-praise-of-the-obamessiah-and-other-developments-of-the-sally-yates-testimony/786179/2 "2017-05-09T04:24:08Z")
It wasn’t news to Trump or his closest fellaters/family; it only served to warn him that others were on to Flynn and his ilk, that it wasn’t going to be business as usual w/ their Russian river of money flowing into Trump’s treasonous (if tiny) hands. The incoming administration has spent more time chasing leaks and creating excuses for why money was more important than loyalty to the US before the election than they have explaining themselves to the people who he’s meant to lead now. The Russians have made us a laughingstock, all for the worship of dollars to the detriment of any sentiment the US was founded on. The POTUS is a craven traitor and lucky, well-placed idiot, and every other nation sees it; we’re a warning to others. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-praise-of-the-obamessiah-and-other-developments-of-the-sally-yates-testimony/786179/3 "2017-05-09T04:56:42Z")
Well you guys did inflict Yeltsin on them, so I suppose turn about is fair play. ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-praise-of-the-obamessiah-and-other-developments-of-the-sally-yates-testimony/786179/4 "2017-05-09T05:13:23Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Well you guys did inflict Yeltsin on them, so I suppose turn about is fair play. And Yeltsin gave us Putin so I suppose we still have only ourselves to blame. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_White\_Dope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/22d042/32.png) [@Great\_White\_Dope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_White_Dope)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-praise-of-the-obamessiah-and-other-developments-of-the-sally-yates-testimony/786179/5 "2017-05-09T06:03:04Z")
Are we still running with the Russian hackers story to excuse Crooked Hillary’s Election Day crushing? Fake news dies hard, huh? ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-praise-of-the-obamessiah-and-other-developments-of-the-sally-yates-testimony/786179/6 "2017-05-09T06:38:03Z")
Nope you dope, what is happening is actually what a nation has to do when a doofus is elected, it has to advise or intervene when the doofus shows that he is all thumbs selecting people for very critical positions. There was already a great success in the early extirpation of members that were in the payroll of foreign nations and in a position to influence policy. It is an essential thing to do so as to discourage conflicts of interests or even blackmail. I do think that what took place **may** look in the future as the intervention that did save the presidency of the cheeto in chief. It may not had been enough, as one sees that other extremists like [Gorka](http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/05/05/trump-and-bannon-personally-intervened-to-save-seb-gorka) are being allowed to continue to be close to the president. Remember the removal of Flint? That festering tumor was removed early but with other malignant members Trump is showing that he would still rather get to bed with pestilence. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-praise-of-the-obamessiah-and-other-developments-of-the-sally-yates-testimony/786179/7 "2017-05-09T06:48:03Z")
> [@Great\_White\_Dope](#): > > …Hillary’s Election Day crushing? Fuck off, revisionist. Hillary won 3,000,000 popular votes _more_ than Trump. That’s not a crushing, that’s a dominant performance which lost on a cheap, outdated technicality. Fake news? How 'bout fake brains? Coz that’s all you got. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-praise-of-the-obamessiah-and-other-developments-of-the-sally-yates-testimony/786179/8 "2017-05-09T07:47:09Z")
I will invite posters who still engage with Dopey here to look at his email address. Now look at his name and note the “irony.” This guy is not legit. Engaging with him is pointless. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-praise-of-the-obamessiah-and-other-developments-of-the-sally-yates-testimony/786179/9 "2017-05-09T09:49:16Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > Fuck off, revisionist. Hillary won 3,000,000 popular votes _more_ than Trump. That’s not a crushing, that’s a dominant performance which lost on a cheap, outdated technicality. > > Fake news? How 'bout fake brains? Coz that’s all you got. His older sister caught him fucking his younger sister when it wasn’t his turn. Bashed his tiny brains out with a snickerdoodle pan. Have some pity. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-praise-of-the-obamessiah-and-other-developments-of-the-sally-yates-testimony/786179/10 "2017-05-09T10:34:52Z")
[QUOTE=President Assface] …when will this taxpayer funded charade end? [/QUOTE] When indeed, you bumbling old fool. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-praise-of-the-obamessiah-and-other-developments-of-the-sally-yates-testimony/786179/11 "2017-05-09T10:43:35Z")
Even if there was exactly nothing here, I think there should be _at least_ 7 investigations on it, regardless of what each one turns up. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-praise-of-the-obamessiah-and-other-developments-of-the-sally-yates-testimony/786179/12 "2017-05-09T12:24:00Z")
> [@Great\_White\_Dope](#): > > Are we still running with the Russian hackers story to excuse Crooked Hillary’s Election Day crushing? > > Fake news dies hard, huh? Actually, the Trump supporters are the ones who still talk about Hillary. It’s the last time Donald has actually accomplished something noteworthy. None of you are talking about the good Donald has done. You’re still holding on to the Hillary chestnut because you can’t find the means to snip the Russian puppet strings from president Twitter. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-praise-of-the-obamessiah-and-other-developments-of-the-sally-yates-testimony/786179/13 "2017-05-09T12:47:45Z")
Heh. My dad is a Trumpet, and he looked at the paper this morning and started muttering about who is Sally Yates and how I should take the New York Times and use it for cat litter. 😃 (I love my father, but I do abhor his politics…) ---
**Author:** ![SaneBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@SaneBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaneBill)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-praise-of-the-obamessiah-and-other-developments-of-the-sally-yates-testimony/786179/14 "2017-05-09T12:52:14Z")
> [@Knowed\_Out](#): > > president Twitter. Than who ? Oh, right. Than everybody. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-praise-of-the-obamessiah-and-other-developments-of-the-sally-yates-testimony/786179/15 "2017-05-09T12:58:49Z")
> [@Nawth\_Chucka](#): > > It wasn’t news to Trump or his closest fellaters/family; it only served to warn him that others were on to Flynn and his ilk, that it wasn’t going to be business as usual w/ their Russian river of money flowing into Trump’s treasonous (if tiny) hands. Cite? ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-praise-of-the-obamessiah-and-other-developments-of-the-sally-yates-testimony/786179/16 "2017-05-09T13:11:33Z")
I watched the last couple of hours of yesterday’s hearing. There are things that everyone agrees on regardless of party affiliation. I don’t have the exact word but this was stated outright several times 1. The hacking and disinformation campaigns happened 2. The Russians were primarily responsible 3. The beneficiary was the Donald Trump campaign The question is the actual involvement of the Trump campaign, which is less clear cut. Yates managed to correct some misconceptions about unmasking. Yates never had to request it. As you might imagine it’s usually done somewhat further down in the intelligence chain and if an American is taped making dubious deals with a foreign national it’s really part of the job to ID the American. Otherwise the surveillance isn’t of much use. And they did make clear that Flynn’s routine security checks as a retired military officer would not have been expected to be sufficient to clear anyone for a position of national security advisor. And Yates herself also repeatedly tried to warn the Trump Administration. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-praise-of-the-obamessiah-and-other-developments-of-the-sally-yates-testimony/786179/17 "2017-05-09T13:48:35Z")
I think it’s telling how normalized Trump has become that the former acting attorney general of the United States testified that the White House knowingly hired, and continued the employ for weeks, a liar and potential Russian agent as National Security Advisor and it took nearly 24 hours for there to be a thread about it. Is there any possible legitimate explanation that it took 18 days after being flat out told that Flynn was compromised, to fire him and even then only after the information leaked to the press all the while praising him? ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-praise-of-the-obamessiah-and-other-developments-of-the-sally-yates-testimony/786179/18 "2017-05-09T14:07:09Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > Fuck off, revisionist. Hillary won 3,000,000 popular votes _more_ than Trump. That’s not a crushing, that’s a dominant performance which lost on a cheap, outdated technicality. > > Fake news? How 'bout fake brains? Coz that’s all you got. No. Fucking off should be reserved to any attempt to let shitbrains like **Great White Dope** deflect any criticism of Trump with the old …but, but Hillary! Clinton is done and over and isn’t really relevant to the fact that Trump’s little circus troop is a bunch of bumbling amateurs. Russian hacking may or may not be bullshit but letting GWD deflect the fact that Trump made a stupid cabinet decision AFTER HE WAS WARNED is just not bright. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-praise-of-the-obamessiah-and-other-developments-of-the-sally-yates-testimony/786179/19 "2017-05-09T14:12:57Z")
> [@Great\_White\_Dope](#): > > Are we still running with the Russian hackers story to excuse Crooked Hillary’s Election Day crushing? > > Fake news dies hard, huh? Read something besides the label on your breakfast cereal, for fuck’s sake. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-praise-of-the-obamessiah-and-other-developments-of-the-sally-yates-testimony/786179/20 "2017-05-09T14:28:55Z")
As you might expect, the topic of Trump tweets in support of Flynn AFTER the Trump Administration was warned came up in the hearing. Boy, talk about a question that can make someone squirm, especially since the only honest answer is “C’mon, everyone knows that Trump tweets are the ramblings of a demented old dude and we don’t pay attention anymore”. But they can’t say that so they just squirm. And there was some old cracker on the panel that kept beating up on Yates for her refusal to let DOJ defend the first Muslim ban. It devolved into a circular round of questioning on the constitutionality issues. I would’ve liked to see her take different tack and slam the ban because it violated the contractual nature of many of our visa requirements - for example, the US offers visas to foreigners that invest large sums of money in US businesses. If you pull that visa after the investment has been made it’s bad for American businesses that rely on those investments. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-praise-of-the-obamessiah-and-other-developments-of-the-sally-yates-testimony/786179.md?page=2)