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The Presidency of Donald J. Trump: No smocking guns. The Presidency of Donald J. Trump: No smocking guns.

02-09-2017 , 06:08 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Namath12
lol chuck tingle
Not the first Trump-related dinosaur erotic novel he wrote either

Spoiler:




02-09-2017 , 06:10 PM
Quote:
The president can do little without Congress’s express permission. He cannot raise money. He cannot declare war. He cannot even staff his government. If Congress, tomorrow, wanted to compel Trump to release his tax returns, they could. If Congress, tomorrow, wanted to impeach Trump unless he agreed to turn his assets over to a blind trust, they could. If Congress, tomorrow, wanted to take Trump’s power to choose who can and cannot enter the country, they could. As Frum writes, “Congress can protect the American system from an overbearing president.” He just thinks they won’t.

Frum offers a persuasive account of why congressional Republicans are likely to fall before Trump’s will, and he is probably right. But I want to make the argument that there is nothing inevitable about that: it is not the system envisioned by the Constitution and it is not the system we would have if voters took Congress’s enormous power seriously and were as interested in who ran it as in who ran the presidency.

And I want to shift the locus of responsibility a bit: if Trump builds an autocracy, his congressional enablers will, if anything, be more responsible than him. After all, in amassing power and breaking troublesome norms, Trump will be doing what the Founders expected. But in letting any president do that, Congress will be violating the role they were built to play. We need to stop talking so much about what Trump will do and begin speaking in terms of what Congress lets him do.

Donald Trump is a paper tiger. But the US Congress is a tiger that we pretend is made of paper. It is, at this point, taken for granted that congressional Republicans will protect their co-partisan at any cost. It is, at this point, expected that they will confirm Trump’s unqualified nominees, ignore his obvious conflicts of interest, overlook his dangerous comments, and rationalize his worst behavior.

That expectation — and the cowardice it permits — is the real danger to American democracy.


He has a point, Trump's going to Trump but the real aholes are the guys allowing it just to give a tax break to their billionaire buddies.

http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politi...-congress-frum
02-09-2017 , 06:11 PM
I love that the press actually stuck together on that "so called judge" tweet and didn't let Spicer weasel his way out of it.

Has any press secretary ever name dropped the prior administration in pure examples of whataboutism as often as Spicer?
02-09-2017 , 06:18 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by tomdemaine
McCain bent the knee pretty damn fast when it came to confirmation votes.
Tell it. Seriously **** em in the hole.

Chaffetz: Quit it with the conflicts of interest and money grubbing or I might do nothing like I was always going to do.
02-09-2017 , 06:30 PM
I can't believe I'm saying this but that nuclear treaty story has got to be fake news, right?
02-09-2017 , 06:37 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul McSwizzle
Also, the tea party did serious work with like 1/10th energy and numbers, to say nothing of tech savvy and raw intellect. Yes, it was coopted by smart, powerful people for their own ends, but I'd still take replacement level resister over replacement level tea partier in terms of potential to make something happen.
Not to be Debbie Downer, but my counterpoint would be that a lot of the Tea Party types probably had significantly more free time? Being older, with established relationships (or confirmed bachelors/spinsters), less demanding social lives, etc. So they probably had more free time to do it. And they were doing it as a labour of love, on the back of ~four decades' worth of propaganda. My worry is that millennial outrage may have a short shelf life, especially if the administration makes some minor shiny-object concessions.

Quote:
Originally Posted by tomdemaine
McCain bent the knee pretty damn fast when it came to confirmation votes.
HIYOOOOOOO
02-09-2017 , 06:44 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by All-In Flynn
Not to be Debbie Downer, but my counterpoint would be that a lot of the Tea Party types probably had significantly more free time? Being older, with established relationships (or confirmed bachelors/spinsters), less demanding social lives, etc. So they probably had more free time to do it. And they were doing it as a labour of love, on the back of ~four decades' worth of propaganda. My worry is that millennial outrage may have a short shelf life, especially if the administration makes some minor shiny-object concessions.



HIYOOOOOOO
Ezra Klein made the point on the weeds that the haphazard extremely blunt Breitbart ideological way of running the Presidency is going to make it hard for Democrats to accept concession if/when he does make them. If he keeps going on the white nationalism / demagoguery then Democrats can't accept a concession without angering their base because who wants to be the one who made a deal with "Hilter".
02-09-2017 , 06:48 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Huehuecoyotl
He has a point, Trump's going to Trump but the real aholes are the guys allowing it just to give a tax break to their billionaire buddies.

http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politi...-congress-frum
I'm like 3 months of being into politics (and not really educated prior to that) and I could've written that article. Just from reading pretty much just solely this thread and some news pieces I've gathered that the only way to stop Trump and his administration is if the republicans turn on him. But they won't because they care more about money and/or power than the country. That much seems incredibly obvious and it's even more depressing to think about.
02-09-2017 , 06:48 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by bbfg
I can't believe I'm saying this but that nuclear treaty story has got to be fake news, right?


I'm slightly skeptical simply because the small number of people present in the room during the call is so small that leaking seems dangerous, but:

- The Reuters reporters (cited in the Vox piece) are generally pretty good

- We know Trump has waived off a lot of the standard briefings, so the notion that he didn't get the typical pre-call refresher that would have highlighted the treaty issue doesn't seem outside of his range

- Similarly, we know from the "nuclear triad" debate question that, at a minimum, he didn't have a great knowledge of nuclear policy language. Given that, MAYBE, he didn't have to get full coached up about the details of NEWStart, but simply reminded that that was the name of the nuc treaty (still bad obviously, but I'm trying to come up with something that will at least let me sleep at night...)
02-09-2017 , 07:08 PM
Judges under heightened protection because of threats. jfc
02-09-2017 , 07:11 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Huehuecoyotl
Ezra Klein made the point on the weeds that the haphazard extremely blunt Breitbart ideological way of running the Presidency is going to make it hard for Democrats to accept concession if/when he does make them. If he keeps going on the white nationalism / demagoguery then Democrats can't accept a concession without angering their base because who wants to be the one who made a deal with "Hilter".
Not sure whether to hope he's right or wrong, to be honest. Interesting point, though.
02-09-2017 , 07:15 PM
LOL Lindsey Graham said that the problem with the Democrats is that theyre being "pushed by the most extreme forces in their community... Their party is going to lose its way." MOTHER ****ER YOU JUST DRAGGED A HARMLESS MOM OUT OF THE COUNTRY IN A VAN IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT. NO YOU.
02-09-2017 , 07:16 PM
Lol travel ban took a **** on TRUMPs head. Judges say TRUMP has to stay 100 yards from anyone with brown skin.
02-09-2017 , 07:17 PM
woot
02-09-2017 , 07:17 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oroku$aki
I hope Trudeau doesn't take too much **** from this clown administration on Monday. He seems like such a flake, I hope he has more grit than meets the eye.
Meh, he settled a dispute by actually boxing a dude and beating him pretty bad.
02-09-2017 , 07:18 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by prana
Judges under heightened protection because of threats. jfc
Orange man is gonna get someone killed naming them on twitter but he will never get his account banned.
02-09-2017 , 07:18 PM


A victory for The People! Never stop fighting!
02-09-2017 , 07:20 PM
How long until Cheeto face erupts in a volcano of Twitterblab?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...=.54d030c9a675
02-09-2017 , 07:21 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Huehuecoyotl
He has a point, Trump's going to Trump but the real aholes are the guys allowing it just to give a tax break to their billionaire buddies.

http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politi...-congress-frum
2018 GOTV vote effort better be all hands on deck. I'll be doing something - money, time, or both.
02-09-2017 , 07:22 PM
YES!!
02-09-2017 , 07:24 PM
This is such a joke. Ruling based not on the constitution but on politics. This country is so finished
02-09-2017 , 07:25 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by suzzer99
2018 GOTV vote effort better be all hands on deck. I'll be doing something - money, time, or both.
We need to run a candidate in every single district in the country, that would be a start.



02-09-2017 , 07:27 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by BMOL33
This is such a joke. Ruling based not on the constitution but on politics. This country is so finished
Sweet, sweet alt-right tears
02-09-2017 , 07:27 PM
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Originally Posted by bobman0330
Sweet, sweet alt-right tears
SC will overturn it anyway so it won't matter
02-09-2017 , 07:28 PM
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Originally Posted by wheatrich
The economy has been growing yet trump got elected because at least in part, many people are clearly doing worse. He could funnel $ to every single trump voter at the expense of every single clinton voter. Market would tank, but it doesn't matter, it's all relative. For the most part, only rich people own stocks so the stock market is mostly irrelevant.
yeah I'm not trying to be a jerk but that's just wrong. not really sure where to start but... no.

      
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