The Trump Administration: A Clusterfuck in the Making

[ThelmaLou]

@El_Kabong

Bah, still a tool, IMO. The sniveling statement he made after his unceremonious dumping shows that he’s quite the (Trump) Organization man after all:

Reince Priebus replaced as White House chief of staff | Donald Trump News | Al Jazeera

TL-DR? “Thank you Sir, may I have another?”

I dunno. Priebus’ delivery was pretty robotic. I think The Mooch was holding the family puppy (or possibly the family) over a tank of boiling water during that statement.

[JackieLikesVariety]

@asahi

That’s exactly the point – the rule of law is after him, so the only way out of this is to break the rule of law into pieces.

Coincidentally or not, Vladimir Putin’s irreversible path toward becoming a strongman started under similar circumstances. There were multiple corruption investigations against him early in his presidency, and like Trump, he knew that if he ever left power, there would be the chance that someone could appoint a prosecutor and have him jailed. He wasn’t willing to take that chance, so he moved to stop the investigations. His tactics evolved to become increasingly extreme.

It was obviously easier to accomplish that in the chaos of post-Soviet Russia, but what people here haven’t considered until now is that the Constitution actually gives the Executive a lot of power. Presidential power has not been used to its extremes because we’ve always elected people who were honorable enough to respect the political norms established by the early leaders of the country like Washington and Jefferson. Most of the times when presidential power has expanded it has been with popular consent, such as during times of national crises. Again, we’ve been fortunate in that there has usually been enough transparency for people in congress and in the public sphere to know when something is a ‘crisis’ or when it’s just a bullshit power grab.

Nixon was the one president who exercised power against this implicit consent, and he was stopped - but that was against a mostly opposition congress and that was also at a time when the institutions of a free press were stronger and enjoyed more credibility. The circumstances are different now. With the way things are going now, this could well develop into the greatest constitutional crisis since the American Civil War. We’ve never had an Executive who has challenged the legitimacy of the Constitution and what it represents, but Trump seems to be different in every imaginable way.

It’s true that the institutions in the United States are strong and our traditions of democracy, liberty, and separation of powers are also strong - arguably stronger than in most of the countries that have succumbed to authoritarian rule. How much stronger? What are the stress limits? Those are the real questions, and nobody has the answers. But it seems that just assuming it’ll all work out in the end is a dangerously naive assumption.

this

[SteveG1]

Trump supposedly is moving towards creating “an independent White House”, and Jesse Watters of Fox has started openly discussing the “benefits” of a Trump dictatorship.

[jasg]

@alphaboi867

At least he hasn’t designed a presidential sash for himself.

Why just a sash? He is Commander in Chief and deserves a military uniform approprate to that. Perhaps multiples - one for each uniformed service!

Ribbons for every rally, stripes for every executive order, the possibilities are endless.

(I can’t figure out how many stars would be required, though.)

[eschereal]

@jasg

(I can’t figure out how many stars would be required, though.)

Yellow ones? MDs? Millions?

(or would that be crescent moons)

[elucidator]

The really classy Leader wears an entirely plain uniform with no adornments at all. Thus he stands out in comparison to his second-tier minions, who are embrassed within an inch of their lives.

[digs]

@elucidator

The really classy Leader wears an entirely plain uniform with no adornments at all. Thus he stands out in comparison to his second-tier minions, who are embrassed within an inch of their lives.

Ooh, can I have a cushy job? I’ve got the “embarassed within an inch of my life” part down pat.

[Siam_Sam]

Regarding Rancid Priebus’ being “ready to leave the White House”: I didn’t catch who it was being quoted, but someone was quoting a previous White House insider as saying, “Whenever someone says they’re ‘ready to leave the White House,’ they’re probably lying.”

[Ruken]

@elucidator

The really classy Leader wears an entirely plain uniform with no adornments at all.

Brazilian tourist photobombs Bulgarian president, asks why he is important

[ThelmaLou]

@elucidator

The really classy Leader wears an entirely plain uniform with no adornments at all. Thus he stands out in comparison to his second-tier minions, who are embrassed within an inch of their lives.

@digs

Ooh, can I have a cushy job? I’ve got the “embarassed within an inch of my life” part down pat.

Not embarrassed, but embrassed, i.e., covered with brass.

[Catamount]

@Siam_Sam

Regarding Rancid Priebus’ being “ready to leave the White House”: I didn’t catch who it was being quoted, but someone was quoting a previous White House insider as saying, “Whenever someone says they’re ‘ready to leave the White House,’ they’re probably lying.”

I was ready for him to leave the White House, and I’m not lying.

[simster]

@SteveG1

Trump supposedly is moving towards creating “an independent White House”, and Jesse Watters of Fox has started openly discussing the “benefits” of a Trump dictatorship.

You got a cite for any of this?

[running_coach]

@simster

You got a cite for any of this?

The Week

It’s unclear which people Fox News’ Jesse Watters has been talking to, but he claims “a lot” of them “wish President Trump was a dictator.” Watters explained Thursday on The Five that if Trump were a dictator then “maybe we could repeal ObamaCare.” “It would be a lot easier that way,” he said, hours before the ObamaCare “skinny repeal” died on the Senate floor.

[AnalogSignal]

This NY Times article summarizes the State of the Clusterfuck:

Trump Tries to Regroup as the West Wing Battles Itself (Published 2017)

The shake-up followed a week that saw the bombastic, with-me-or-against-me president defied as never before by Washington and its institutions, including Republicans in Congress, his own attorney general, the uniformed military leadership, police officers and even the Boy Scouts. No longer daunted by a president with a Twitter account that he uses like a Gatling gun, members of his own party made clear that they were increasingly willing to stand against him on issues like health care and Russia.

[MichaelEmouse]

Is anyone else reminded of the fate of the leaders of the NKVD under Stalin?

Yagoda did Stalin’s dirty work until he wasn’t useful anymore/knew too much. At which point, Yagoda was put on show trial by his successor, Yezhov, and executed.

Yezhov did Stalin’s dirty work until he wasn’t useful anymore/knew too much. At which point, Yezhov was put on show trial by his successor, Beria, and executed.

Beria was executed shortly after Stalin’s reign ended. His life was likely prolonged by WWII and its aftermath.

In a similar but less homicidal manner, if someone takes a job to serve Trump, how can they expect they won’t be chewed up and spat out whenever he feels like it, for any reason, including Trump showing he’ll do that for no reason at all?

[simster]

@running_coach

The Week

ok - but where is the “trump is moving for an independent white house” part?

Idiots talking about how great a dictatorship is can be ignored as the idiots they are - but if there are ‘genuine’ reports of Trump discussing these things - well, he’s still and idiot, just harder to ignore.

[Randolph]

@Siam_Sam

Regarding Rancid Priebus’ being “ready to leave the White House”: I didn’t catch who it was being quoted, but someone was quoting a previous White House insider as saying, “Whenever someone says they’re ‘ready to leave the White House,’ they’re probably lying.”

Sean Spicer seemed pretty ready to leave the White House.

[Rick_Kitchen]

Trump threatens to end health care for Congress, their staffers, and voters.

Trump signs sanctions bill against Russia as relations worsen

[PatriotX]

@Rick_Kitchen

Trump threatens to end health care for Congress, their staffers, and voters.
http://www.latimes.com/politics/washington/la-na-essential-washington-updates-trump-once-again-threatens-to-yank-1501350963-htmlstory.html

seems desperate

[AnalogSignal]

@Rick_Kitchen

Trump threatens to end health care for Congress, their staffers, and voters.
http://www.latimes.com/politics/washington/la-na-essential-washington-updates-trump-once-again-threatens-to-yank-1501350963-htmlstory.html

He is throwing a tantrum like a baby that can’t get what it wants.

He also called Republicans fools in this tweet which is getting major news coverage:

“Republicans in the Senate will NEVER win if they don’t go to a 51 vote majority NOW. They look like fools and are just wasting time…”

I think his Rebublican support in Congress will evaporate soon.

In other news, North Korea now has nuclear missiles that can hit the US. I am sure the President can be trusted to make the right decisions to deal with this. :smack: