# Trump II, The Revenge of the Trump **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [February 7, 2020, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-ii-the-revenge-of-the-trump/847608 "2020-02-07T23:40:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-ii-the-revenge-of-the-trump/847608/141 "2020-02-19T21:24:33Z")
> [@eenerms](#): > > Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Australia, Italy and UK. Australia, Italy and the UK are not socialist or dictatorships and are free countries by any commonly accepted definition. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2020, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-ii-the-revenge-of-the-trump/847608/142 "2020-02-20T00:25:26Z")
> [@eenerms](#): > > . But I love the USA ( after living in multiple, socialists, dictatorships and not free countries) more than I hate a Trump. > [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Which ones?. > [@eenerms](#): > > Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Australia, Italy and UK. **[[https://www.cato.org/human-freedom-index-new](https://www.cato.org/human-freedom-index-new)](The Human Freedom Index - 2019)** • Rule of Law • Security and Safety • Movement • Religion • Association, Assembly, and Civil Society • Expression and Information • Identity and Relationships • Size of Government • Legal System and Property Rights • Access to Sound Money • Freedom to Trade Internationally • Regulation of Credit, Labor, and Business The jurisdictions that took the top 10 places in 2019, in order, were #1 New Zealand, #2 Switzerland, #3 Hong Kong, #4 Canada, #5 Australia, #6 Denmark and Luxembourg (tied in 6th place), #8 Finland and Germany (tied in 8th place), #10 Ireland United Kingdom (14) **United States (15)** Give you merkins credit, your ranking is up from the mid 20s just a couple of years ago. But it would seem apparent that you wouldn’t recognise what actually constitutes freedom if you were literally living amongst it. ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2020, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-ii-the-revenge-of-the-trump/847608/143 "2020-02-20T01:33:28Z")
> [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](#): > > Australia, Italy and the UK are not socialist or dictatorships and are free countries by any commonly accepted definition. Australia, UK and Italy are more socialist than here. I didn’t call them dictatorships , just KSA and Qatar where there is no freedom of Speech, assembly, press, religion. And as a woman living there I know what it was like being discriminated against and suppressed. ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2020, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-ii-the-revenge-of-the-trump/847608/144 "2020-02-20T01:35:22Z")
> [@penultima\_thule](#): > > **[[https://www.cato.org/human-freedom-index-new](https://www.cato.org/human-freedom-index-new)](The Human Freedom Index - 2019)** > • Rule of Law > • Security and Safety > • Movement > • Religion > • Association, Assembly, and Civil Society > • Expression and Information > • Identity and Relationships > • Size of Government > • Legal System and Property Rights > • Access to Sound Money > • Freedom to Trade Internationally > • Regulation of Credit, Labor, and Business > > The jurisdictions that took the top 10 places in 2019, in order, were > #1 New Zealand, > #2 Switzerland, > #3 Hong Kong, > #4 Canada, > #5 Australia, > #6 Denmark and Luxembourg (tied in 6th place), > #8 Finland and Germany (tied in 8th place), > #10 Ireland > > United Kingdom (14) > **United States (15)** > Give you merkins credit, your ranking is up from the mid 20s just a couple of years ago. > > But it would seem apparent that you wouldn’t recognise what actually constitutes freedom if you were literally living amongst it. Right I lived in a bubble in those places. I was so unaware… ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2020, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-ii-the-revenge-of-the-trump/847608/145 "2020-02-20T01:39:30Z")
> [@eenerms](#): > > ( after living in multiple, socialists, dictatorships and not free countries) > [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Which ones? > [@eenerms](#): > > Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Australia, Italy and UK. [emphasis mine] > [@eenerms](#): > > Australia, UK and Italy are more socialist than here. **I didn’t call them dictatorships** … No? [Emphasis mine] > [@eenerms](#): > > Saudi Arabia, Qatar, **Australia, Italy and UK.** ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2020, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-ii-the-revenge-of-the-trump/847608/146 "2020-02-20T02:17:49Z")
> [@eenerms](#): > > Right I lived in a bubble in those places. I was so unaware… No, think it’s more the case you are living in delusion where you are now. ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2020, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-ii-the-revenge-of-the-trump/847608/147 "2020-02-20T14:48:12Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > [emphasis mine] > > No? [Emphasis mine] You misunderstood , my bad and I’m out… ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2020, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-ii-the-revenge-of-the-trump/847608/148 "2020-02-20T16:39:18Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > It is deranged behavior when almost all Republicans tell us that the embodiment of the 7 deadly sins is better than the alternatives. Good point. Does Donny Two-scoops not embody _any_ of the seven? Gluttony might be one if you consider Two-scoops just Greed. How many hamberders does he eat at a time? ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2020, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-ii-the-revenge-of-the-trump/847608/149 "2020-02-21T01:46:10Z")
Was reading the thread again and wanted to go back to this because it’s important, especially now. > [@iiandyiiii](#): > > John Kelly defends Vindman and implies Trump’s actions were illegal: > > "During an event at Drew University in New Jersey, Kelly said Vindman, who was on Trump’s infamous call with Zelensky, was doing what he had been trained to do as a military officer when he reported Trump’s request that Zelensky investigate Joe Biden to a White House lawyer. > > Kelly described Trump’s request as an “illegal order.” > > “We teach them, ‘Don’t follow an illegal order. And if you’re ever given one, you’ll raise it to whoever gives it to you that this is an illegal order, and then tell your boss,'” the former White House official said, according to the Atlantic." Yeah, well, Kelly was an enabler. What Kelly and all of Trump’s enablers don’t seem to understand is that Trump and the GOP are effectively creating a parallel government, a parallel system of justice, a parallel constitution, a parallel political reality. This is a real, clear, and present danger to the principle of self-government. Everyone of Trump’s fired stooges have come to regret their role in creating this monster, but it’s too late now - they have no credibility once they’re fired. Anyone who occupies a position of power has to understand this and they have to understand it right now: they cannot be the “adult in the room.” There’s no picking battles. Mass resignation, mass protest is the only way to save this country. Otherwise, Trump and the corrupt GOP will simply use attrition to drain the last drop of blood out of democracy’s dead corpse, and replace it with the embalming fluid of kleptocracy. ---
**Author:** ![MulderMuffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldermuffin/32/2862_2.png) [@MulderMuffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MulderMuffin)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2020, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-ii-the-revenge-of-the-trump/847608/150 "2020-02-21T04:57:05Z")
The firings continue… > [@](#): > > This week, Trump also asked for the resignation of John C. Rood, the official in charge of Defense Department policy, who had certified that Ukraine had met anti-corruption obligations required by law to receive U.S. aid that Trump froze. – Washington Post > [@](#): > > The deputy national security adviser, Victoria Coates, has also been removed from her post after some colleagues, including trade adviser Peter Navarro, accused her of being the author of “Anonymous,” a scathing account of dysfunction in the White House. – Washington Post And Joseph Maguire has now been removed as acting Director of National Intelligence. Remember him? He testified before Congress about the whistleblower report way back when this whole thing was starting to blow up. Replaced by yet another acting director who’s a whole lot more MAGA and a whole lot less qualified. (Seems he let intelligence officials brief the House Intelligence Committee about Russia’s renewed efforts to help Trump win in 2020, which is, of course, a lie and a hoax and Deep State, and aaarreggg!) Trump didn’t like that one bit. So out he went. ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2020, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-ii-the-revenge-of-the-trump/847608/151 "2020-02-21T10:56:30Z")
One of Trump’s many rape victims has been fired from her job at Elle. She just came forward last year: > **[E. Jean Carroll, columnist who says Donald Trump raped her, fired from Elle](https://news.yahoo.com/e-jean-carroll-columnist-says-174043779.html?.tsrc=jtc_news_index)** > > E. Jean Carroll, who helmed the "Ask E. Jean" column for Elle magazine since 1993, was fired in December, according to a court filing. Trump is supposed to provide a DNA sample which he of course will not do. Isn’t there a trail of slime that he leaves behind him everywhere he goes? I guess I can understand why no one would want to touch that. Repeating for emphasis: if you are a powerful person and you rape someone who works at Elle, they will fire that employee if she comes forward. I know America hankers for a return to the 1950’s… well, there you go. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2020, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-ii-the-revenge-of-the-trump/847608/152 "2020-02-21T18:06:40Z")
**[Scoop: New White House personnel chief tells Cabinet liaisons to target Never Trumpers](https://www.axios.com/scoop-white-house-personnel-chief-targets-never-trumpers-2ee51bfd-03f9-4971-8308-863c81ace5f0.html)** > [@](#): > > Johnny McEntee called in White House liaisons from cabinet agencies for an introductory meeting Thursday, in which he asked them to identify political appointees across the U.S. government who are believed to be anti-Trump, three sources familiar with the meeting tell Axios. > > **Behind the scenes:** McEntee, a 29-year-old former body man\* to Trump who was fired in 2018 by then-Chief of Staff John Kelly but recently rehired — and promoted to head the presidential personnel office — foreshadowed sweeping personnel changes across government. > [ul] > [li]But McEntee suggested the most dramatic changes may have to wait until after the November election.[/li][li]Trump has empowered McEntee — whom he considers an absolute loyalist — to purge the “bad people” and “Deep State.”[/li][li]McEntee told staff that those identified as anti-Trump will no longer get promotions by shifting them around agencies.[/li][/ul] > … (Formatting in original) \*Question: What’s a “body man”? Bodyguard? Valet? Personal slave? [del]Gal[/del] Guy Friday? Is that an actual staff position with a job description (that any of us could stomach to read)? ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2020, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-ii-the-revenge-of-the-trump/847608/153 "2020-02-21T19:04:32Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > **[Scoop: New White House personnel chief tells Cabinet liaisons to target Never Trumpers](https://www.axios.com/scoop-white-house-personnel-chief-targets-never-trumpers-2ee51bfd-03f9-4971-8308-863c81ace5f0.html)**(Formatting in original) > > \*Question: What’s a “body man”? Bodyguard? Valet? Personal slave? [del]Gal[/del] Guy Friday? Is that an actual staff position with a job description (that any of us could stomach to read)? Basically he’s an administrative assistant to the president who follows him around, makes sure that he gets where he’s supposed to go and has everything he needs when he gets there. In the case of Trump though it might be the person who cleans up after him when he takes a jaunt down 5th Avenue. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-ii-the-revenge-of-the-trump/847608.md?page=7)