The Trump Administration: A Clusterfuck in the Making

[asahi]

@Rick_Kitchen

Trump is bragging about how the NHL champion Pittsburgh Penguins will be coming to the White House.
Just how many black US citizens are on that team?
“Please to inform that the Champion Pittsburgh Penguins of the NHL will be joining me at the White House for Ceremony. Great team!” (note that he said Please and not Pleased)
x.com

The NHL fandom in the United States is overwhelmingly white, as is NASCAR. Was good to see Dale Earnhardt Jr go against the grain a little with his tweet today.

[asahi]

@fiveyearlurker

apparently everyone in the trump administration is using personal email accountson the reg.

To be clear, i don’t give a shit about this, but my not giving a shit now is consistent with my never giving a shit about this.

Lock - them - up!

[Rick_Kitchen]

@nearwildheaven

The Orange One is ignoring the whole Puerto Rican situation, and I think I know why.

They don’t elect the president.

They’re also brown.

[Snowboarder_Bo]

@asahi

The NHL fandom in the United States is overwhelmingly white, as is NASCAR. Was good to see Dale Earnhardt Jr go against the grain a little with his tweet today.

Yeah; it was. I texted a buddy “Great… now because of Trump, I gotta root for Dale Jr now too”

Jr. wasn’t a driver I ever rooted for. I thought he got in and got by largely because of who he was rather than because he was the best available driver, but over the years he’s also proven himself to be a fairly laid back, intelligent and decent person. And his willingness to simply do whatI consider the righting puts me firmly into “reluctant fan” territory.

Good on you, Dale Earnhardt, Jr.!

[mikecurtis]

from The Washington Post

A Trump judicial pick said transgender children are proof that ‘Satan’s plan is working
Before Jeff Mateer became President Trump’s nominee for federal judgeship in Texas, he fought a local ordinance extending equal protections to members of the LGBT community and said the separation of church and state does not exist in the Constitution.

But likely his most controversial statements were made in two 2015 speeches, in which he said transgender children are proof that “Satan’s plan is working” and same-sex marriage is a harbinger for “disgusting” practices such as polygamy and bestiality. He also appeared to advocate gay conversion therapy, a discredited practice banned by a handful of states and condemned by human rights and medical groups.

Those comments, which did not appear in media reports until CNN unearthed them last week, have outraged LGBT rights groups and drawn scrutiny to Mateer’s legal career as awaits a Senate confirmation hearing. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the Senate committee that confirms judicial nominees, said Mateer’s “reprehensible” views about the LGBT community cast doubt on his ability to be fair and impartial.

. . .The recent revelations on Mateer, Texas’s first assistant attorney general, have also raised questions about whether he disclosed his controversial comments to a vetting committee, as required by state law.

A bipartisan group of attorneys called the Federal Judicial Evaluation Committee interviewed applicants and recommended candidates to the two U.S. senators from Texas, Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz. The two Republican senators then recommended possible nominees to Trump, who announced earlier this month that he is nominating Mateer and four others.

It’s unclear whether the vetting committee or Cornyn and Cruz knew of Mateer’s previous statements when they recommended him for the role.

[mikecurtis]

and there’s more!

Mateer is not the only Trump judicial nominee to draw scrutiny.

Two nominees are conservative bloggers who have written opinionated posts about politics.

John Bush, a Kentucky lawyer who blogged under a pseudonym and called Cruz a “sore loser,” was nominated to a federal appeals court seat.

Damien Schiff, a federal claims court nominee, called Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy a “judicial prostitute” in a blog post. In defending his post, Schiff said it “was not to attack any person but rather to attack a certain style of judging.”

Stephen Schwartz, another federal claims court nominee, was criticized by civil rights groups for what they say was his “niche” legal practice of defending anti-transgender policies.The Senate confirmed Bush in July. Schiff and Schwartz have not been confirmed.

The Senate confirmed Bush in July. Schiff and Schwartz have not been confirmed.

[BobLibDem]

@Rick_Kitchen

“Please to inform that the Champion Pittsburgh Penguins of the NHL will be joining me at the White House for Ceremony. Great team!” (note that he said Please and not Pleased)
x.com

That’s what happens when the longest thing you read in a day is your fortune cookie.

[asahi]

@mikecurtis

from The Washington Post

This is where Trump (with help from the GOP) is quietly doing his greatest damage. Even if the Bernistas somehow take over the Democratic party and shove their way into control of congress and eventually the White House, Trump’s impact on the judiciary will be felt for decades. As Barack Obama said upon reflection: elections have consequences.

[ElvisL1ves]

The man he appointed to destroy the Interior Department has something to whine about:

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said Monday that nearly one-third of employees at his department are not loyal to him and President Donald Trump, adding that he is working to change the department’s regulatory culture to be more business friendly.

Zinke, a former Navy SEAL, said he knew when he took over the 70,000-employee department in March that, “I got 30 percent of the crew that’s not loyal to the flag.”

Only 30 percent took an oath to Trump and the flag, not the Constitution and the United States? I hope the rest are just lying low.

And just another FU for all of us who care about what’s going to be left:

Zinke also offered a quirky defense of hydraulic fracturing, a drilling technique also known as fracking that has led to a years-long energy boom in the U.S., with sharply increased production of oil and natural gas.

“Fracking is proof that God’s got a good sense of humor and he loves us,” Zinke said without explanation.

[CalMeacham]

I suppose I shouldn’t be surprising about this, but I am. Proof that we live in vastly different realities:

On Friday night, Donald Trump headlined a rally in Alabama, where the president continued his campaign against Hillary Clinton. “If Crooked Hillary got elected, you would not have a Second Amendment, believe me,” he said. “You’d be handing in your rifles. You’d be saying, ‘Here, here, here they are.’ You’d be turning over your rifles.”

As if on cue, the audience began chanting, “Lock her up.” Trump, bemused, responded, “You’ve got to speak to Jeff Sessions about that.”

Trump after ‘lock her up’ chant: Talk to Jeff Sessions | CNN Politics

Trump's latest comments on Sessions were 'dripping with venom'

Really? Really?

1.) Trump is still complaining about Hillary, this long after the election (and talking about her going to prison, well after he said he wouldn’t take any steps that way).

2.) Hillary is going to repeal the Second Amendment single-handedly and take away their guns? Really?
Yeah, I know – Red Meat to the Loyal Supporters and all. But I didn’t realize they were this far divorced from reality.

[Okrahoma]

@CalMeacham

Really? Really?

Would Republicans “really? really?” push a grandma in a wheelchair over a cliff?

[jsc1953]

@CalMeacham

Yeah, I know – Red Meat to the Loyal Supporters and all. But I didn’t realize they were this far divorced from reality.

This week’s developments, with the Alabama rally and the follow-up tweets, indicate that Trump has one and only one criterion that drives his actions: does it get big applause from his fans?

[QuickSilver]

@Okrahoma

Would Republicans “really? really?” push a grandma in a wheelchair over a cliff?

Evidently, some would even refuse to let go of the handles.

[eschereal]

@CalMeacham

Hillary is going to repeal the Second Amendment single-handedly and take away their guns? Really?

Once again, this is an alt-white appeal. The alt-white bible, The Turner Diaries, begins shortly after the evul gummint comes and takes away all our guns (except those ones that the heroic racially pure rebels hid away). In other words, the taking of the guns is a dog whistle of the most vile order.

[Little_Nemo]

Mixed messages.

President Trump: “The NFL has all sorts of rules and regulations. The only way out for them is to set a rule that you can’t kneel during our National Anthem!”

Attorney General Sessions: *“Protesters are now routinely shutting down speeches and debates across the country in an effort to silence voices that insufficiently conform with their views.” *

These two public statements were both delivered on the same day. Apparently the right hand doesn’t know what the further to the right hand is doing.

[scr4]

@CalMeacham

2.) Hillary is going to repeal the Second Amendment single-handedly and take away their guns? Really?

Yeah, I thought it was Obama who was going to do that.

Perhaps not to be outdone, Roy Moore pulled out his gun while speaking at a rally. Even in Alabama it’s illegal to carry a gun at a public demonstration, but whatever…

[ElvisL1ves]

@scr4

Yeah, I thought it was Obama who was going to do that.

The ones left after Bubba did it?

[Aspenglow]

Personally, I think all of this whipping up of Teh Base™ is intended to vaccinate Two Scoops against charges that will be brought by Mueller’s investigation.

As the investigation draws closer to the unprincipled principals, I believe Trump’s wish is to inspire a rising up among his cult members, who will presumably grab onto their Second Amendment solutions and defend them (him) to the death when the axe finally falls.

Fear of this potential nouveau civil war among milque-toast Dems will prevent them from pursuing the investigation to its inevitable conclusion. He hopes and (pretends to) prays.

[JackieLikesVariety]

@Aspenglow

Personally, I think all of this whipping up of Teh Base™ is intended to vaccinate Two Scoops against charges that will be brought by Mueller’s investigation.

As the investigation draws closer to the unprincipled principals, I believe Trump’s wish is to inspire a rising up among his cult members, who will presumably grab onto their Second Amendment solutions and defend them (him) to the death when the axe finally falls.

this sounds about right

[Euphonious_Polemic]

@jsc1953

This week’s developments, with the Alabama rally and the follow-up tweets, indicate that Trump has one and only one criterion that drives his actions: does it get big applause from his fans?

This.

Trump does not put any thought into what he is saying. “Will it get me attention?” is his only motivator.

He is the functional equivalent of an 8 year old at his parents party, who goes over an kicks a guest in the shins because nobody is paying attention to him.

“LOOOK AT MEEEEE!!!” is the basic motivator for Trump.