The Trump Administration: A Clusterfuck in the Making

[duality72]

@El_Kabong

Oh well, at least he’s right about one thing. AFAIK it’s true that there’s no other country in the world where, if one is born there, they become “essentially a citizen of the United States”.

No, he’s wrong there, too. Unrestricted jus soli is pretty common in the Americas and restricted forms of it exist in many other places in the world.

EDIT: Er, and now I’m realizing I was whooshed on the “citizen of the United States” detail. How do I make that slappy face icon?

[running_coach]

@duality72

No, he’s wrong there, too. Unrestricted jus soli is pretty common in the Americas and restricted forms of it exist in many other places in the world.

EDIT: Er, and now I’m realizing I was whooshed on the “citizen of the United States” detail. How do I make that slappy face icon?

It’s in the smiley menu.

:smack:

[Yllaria]

@CalMeacham

. . .

…but it’s REALLY surprising that even his own organization doesn’t accept him. Who proposed this guy as a representative of the faith to Pence?

The story about the 'rabbi' Pence appeared with gets a little worse

It may have been added, but the end of that article states:

NBC News’ latest report on this added that Loren Jacobs was invited to the event by Lena Epstein, a Republican congressional candidate this year, and a longtime member of a Detroit-area synagogue.

That just boots the question down a level, though.

[CalMeacham]

Epstein (at whose rally Pence was appearing) has slammed the backlash against Jacobs as “religious intolerance”. Epstein is much more traditionally Jewish, and must be aware of how this looks:

“Christian Rabbi” Who Appeared with Pence to Pray for Pittsburgh Synagogue...

[CalMeacham]

More on the Epstein invite:

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/never-go-full-trump-the-lena-epstein-story

Worth a read, especially the third and the last paragraphs. It won’t let me excerpt it, and damned if I’m going to retype it.

[mhendo]

@CalMeacham

More on the Epstein invite:

Never Go Full Trump: The Lena Epstein Story - TPM – Talking Points Memo

Worth a read, especially the third and the last paragraphs. It won’t let me excerpt it, and damned if I’m going to retype it.

Not sure why you couldn’t excerpt. I had no trouble copying in Firefox. Anyway, here’s a few paragraphs, enough so you get the drift, but not enough to present copyright concerns.

I’ve been digging into this minor mystery. And boy, it’s a really weird story. And by that I mean not just the ‘rabbi’ but the whole campaign of Lena Epstein which appears to be an unfolding train wreck that I didn’t know about but really needed to.

Let’s start at the beginning. The “Jews for Jesus” rabbi gave a benediction about Pittsburgh and instead of naming the victims named Republican candidates to vote for. Critically, he invoked Jesus, which is not something actual rabbis do. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that – if you’re Christian.) Last night it was revealed that Jacobs was actually defrocked years ago by the national “Jews for Jesus” group, making him actually a fake fake rabbi. So who invited this guy? The White House put out word that Jacobs had been invited by Epstein. She immediately followed with a statement confirming this, though in a roundabout way that made it a little fuzzy about whether she knew who Jacobs was, his religious beliefs or why she would have invited him. She didn’t name Jacobs or his religious affiliation.

What I learned when I dug into the story is that this is a fascinating race and well … a bizarre one. Epstein is in the process being semi-ostracized by the local Jewish community and stumbling fairly badly as a candidate because she’s such a hardcore Trumper in a district and a community that is not at all friendly to Trump.

<snip>

So what is the deal with Epstein? Is she a nice Jewish girl from suburban Detroit who is actually a secret or well … not so secret alt-righter or a congregant at a Reform Temple who’s secretly part of “Jews for Jesus”?

Having read up on the coverage of her campaign and spoken to sources who know the local community and Epstein herself well this still remains something of a mystery to me. The image of Epstein I gleaned from all these sources is one of a candidate who mixes naïveté, indifference and entitlement, makes snap decisions based on the friend of the moment and then doubles and triples down on the snap decisions. (In other words, she’s a bit like Trump.) Some sources with knowledge of the situation tell me they think Jacobs started showing up at Epstein events, told her she was awesome and became her new best friend without her really realizing who he was. That led to the invite to the Pence event. Others don’t find that credible. They think somehow Epstein convinced herself this made political or ethical sense much as she did when she courted Ted Nugent and Steve Bannon and liked tweets by David Duke.

[Rick_Kitchen]

Trump is feuding with Paul Ryan.
“Paul Ryan should be focusing on holding the Majority rather than giving his opinions on Birthright Citizenship, something he knows nothing about! Our new Republican Majority will work on this, Closing the Immigration Loopholes and Securing our Border!”

Donald J. Trump

Bring out the popcorn.

[Nava]

@duality72

No, he’s wrong there, too. Unrestricted jus soli is pretty common in the Americas and restricted forms of it exist in many other places in the world.

EDIT: Er, and now I’m realizing I was whooshed on the “citizen of the United States” detail. How do I make that slappy face icon?

Well, there’s always that favorite comeback of “yes they do! The United States of Mexico or of Brazil!”

[Railer13]

@mhendo

Not sure why you couldn’t excerpt. I had no trouble copying in Firefox. Anyway, here’s a few paragraphs, enough so you get the drift, but not enough to present copyright concerns.

You quoted my favorite phrase from the article:

…making him actually a fake fake rabbi.

[Ukulele_Ike]

Re: President For Life

Just keep funneling the Big Macs and KFC and Diet Coke down his gullet. I’m happy to have him President for Life.

[JRDelirious]

@Ukulele_Ike

Re: President For Life

Just keep funneling the Big Macs and KFC and Diet Coke down his gullet. I’m happy to have him President for Life.

Dude, it’s not hurting him.

[smithsb]

@Rick_Kitchen

Trump is feuding with Paul Ryan.
“Paul Ryan should be focusing on holding the Majority rather than giving his opinions on Birthright Citizenship, something he knows nothing about! Our new Republican Majority will work on this, Closing the Immigration Loopholes and Securing our Border!”
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1057674390446448642

Bring out the popcorn.

PAUL RYAN AT FAULT FOR LOSING THE HOUSE!! SAD LOSER. DISLOYAL TREASON - I KNOW MORE ABOUT EVERYTHING THAN ANYBODY #thereallystupiddonaldtrump

Not my fault, Drump will say. Ryan the scapegoat. Ryan is a POS but now he’s a patsy. He’ll grovel off into a miserable job at some “thinktank”. Trump crushes again. Winning. USA-not so much.

[Toxgoddess]

In the Nice Try category, it turns out that losing both houses of Congress would actually be GOOD for Trump:

http://https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-trump/trumps-final-campaign-stretch-rattled-by-twin-calamities-idUSKCN1N52RJ
As the kids say, LMAO.

[Toxgoddess]

If that link didn’t work, try this one:

www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-trump/trumps-final-campaign-stretch-rattled-by-twin-calamities-idUSKCN1N52RJ

[Rick_Kitchen]

Seea Verma, the Administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, tweeted a photo of somebody wearing a t-shirt that says “Medicare For All”, with the caption, “This year’s scariest Halloween costume”

Administrator Seema Verma

[aurora_maire]

The MAGAbomber’s lawyers will love this.

Three men who were convicted of plotting to bomb an apartment building that housed a mosque and dozens of Muslim Somali refugees in Kansas were encouraged by President Donald Trump’s rhetoric and asked a judge for leniency in their sentencing, their attorneys said.

“As long as the Executive Branch condemns Islam and commends and encourages violence against would-be enemies, then a sentence imposed by the Judicial Branch does little to deter people generally from engaging in such conduct if they believe they are protecting their countries from enemies identified by their own Commander-in-Chief,” they continued.

So they were just doing what their President wanted them to do. Come on, not really fair to give a life sentence for that, is it?

Three Men Convicted Of Plotting To Bomb Somali Refugees Say They Were...

[Monty]

@aurora_maire

The MAGAbomber’s lawyers will love this.

So they were just doing what their President wanted them to do. Come on, not really fair to give a life sentence for that, is it?

Three Men Convicted Of Plotting To Bomb Somali Refugees Say They Were Encouraged By Trump's Rhetoric

Remember, their lawyer said Trump’s their commander-in-chief. I guess the SOB thinks they’re in the military. Too bad he didn’t say “just following orders”, too.

[kaylasdad99]

Will no one rid me of [these] turbulent [imams]?

[eschereal]

Does anyone remember murmuring in 2016 right before the election that the hard right would become (more) violent if Hillary Clinton won the election? I seem to remember some vague buzz of that nature. Now it looks like they are ramping up the RW terrorism as a message to voters, that they will have a big problem with a blue wave and things will likely get worse if that is the outcome: vote R to keep the crazies from getting crazier.

[Kimstu]

@Toxgoddess

In the Nice Try category, it turns out that losing both houses of Congress would actually be GOOD for Trump:

http://https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-trump/trumps-final-campaign-stretch-rattled-by-twin-calamities-idUSKCN1N52RJ

Sure, I think Trump himself would be perfectly happy with a Democratic Congress to provide a “villain” for his blustering and accusations, and a scapegoat for his problems and failures. For him it’s much less about specific policy goals than about drama and posturing for his base. He would be much happier in the role of “lone hero” beleaguered by the evil gang of career politicians than he is in the role of top bureaucrat of the party that controls the government.

The Republican establishment would be upset about a Democratic majority in Congress, of course, but Trump wouldn’t. And as eschereal notes, it would also be grist to the mills of all the RW terrorists and terror promoters.