American Politics Thread: Orange is the new POTUS (Archive)

[Swift]

Originally Posted by photon

Interesting* tidbit, emphasis mine.

But for the moment, Mr. Bannon remains the president’s dominant adviser, despite Mr. Trump’s anger that he was not fully briefed on details of the executive order he signed giving his chief strategist a seat on the National Security Council, a greater source of frustration to the president than the fallout from the travel ban.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/05/u...-strategy.html

*Understatement makes it seem better

Aides confer in the dark because they cannot figure out how to operate the light switches in the cabinet room. Visitors conclude their meetings and then wander around, testing doorknobs until finding one that leads to an exit.

Well, if that's not a perfect metaphor...

[DuffMan]

that's hilarious, he's signing executive orders he doesn't even know the details of.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by DuffMan

that's hilarious scary as ####!, he's signing executive orders he doesn't even know the details of.

Fixed

[peter12]

Originally Posted by DuffMan

that's hilarious, he's signing executive orders he doesn't even know the details of.

No, it's not. Those things are often quite complicated, and it is not a secret that most executives, or ministers have a tough time going through policy documents before they sign them. This was a long running joke on the "Yes, Minister/Prime Minister" series.

What it really speaks to is the ulterior motives of Bannon, and how important it is for Trump to replace him ASAP - something which that piece of reporting makes seem likely to come true in the coming months.

If a President can't count on his closest aides to counsel him with good intent, then they should remove them.

Edit: These discussions emphasize to me the real lack of depth that some posters have on the actual dynamics of governance. *Waits for New Era's eventual attack.

[DuffMan]

Trump is Bannons puppet.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by DuffMan

Trump is Bannons puppet.

No, he's not. This is not a thing. It can never be a thing. Trump could lift a finger, and Bannon would be gone from the White House.

[DuffMan]

Bannon is sticking things, things like, his own agenda in the form of an executive order in front of Trump, and Trump signs them without understanding the details.
Sounds like a classic puppet.

[HotHotHeat]

This woman is truly stupid.

Despite Kellyanne Conway’s claim that she simply “misspoke” when she accused Iraqi immigrants of carrying out a “Bowling Green massacre” on MSNBC’s Hardball Thursday, the White House counselor made the same claim in a Cosmopolitan interview four days earlier.

Conway told MSNBC’s Chris Matthews that the Obama administration also had to freeze immigration from certain countries following the “Bowling Green massacre.” There was no such massacre. Amid criticism and mockery, Conway insisted that she had merely misspoken and bashed the media for not giving her the benefit of the doubt.

But Cosmopolitan reported Monday that during their interview earlier that week, Conway told them the exact same thing (the remarks didn’t appear in their initial story). Conway went even further in her interview with the women’s magazine, claiming that the Bowling Green massacre had killed U.S. soldiers.

http://www.mediaite.com/fake-news/ke...nbc-interview/

[Fozzie_DeBear]

If everyone started referring to President Bannon on TV...I bet Drumph would punt him

[Senator Clay Davis]

Bannon knows how to manipulate Trump better than anyone else in the White House. He knows how specifically to stroke Trump's ego to get Trump on his side. Bannon's problem now though is he's getting too much profile, which is partially his own fault from his "media is the opposition party" blurb. As long as his profile keeps going up, he's destined to fall as Trump can't stand someone getting more attention.

[DuffMan]

Originally Posted by HotHotHeat

This woman is truly stupid.

It's funny how KAC, thinks that she made an honest mistake and the press should give her the benefit of the doubt, yet she calls for the firing of the journalist who did make an honest mistake, and reported that MLK bust was missing from the WH. He apologized shortly after, which is what a person who made an honest mistake should do, but that's not good enough for her. She wouldn't shut up about if for days, but the press should not talk about her lies and fabrications.

[DuffMan]

I wonder what would happen if someone told Trump that Bannon is smarter than him

[Azure]

Well I'd imagine if the media keeps hammering away at the whole 'President Bannon' angle sooner or later Trump will have to get rid of him.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by peter12

No, he's not. This is not a thing. It can never be a thing. Trump could lift a finger, and Bannon would be gone from the White House.

But until that happens...

[HotHotHeat]

Originally Posted by mustache ride

The fact he won when every poll said otherwise kind of legitimizes his view.

No it doesn't.

Most of the polls leading up to the election had Clinton +4 nationally. She won by just over 2. Margin of error is larger than that.

[opendoor]

Originally Posted by peter12

No, it's not. Those things are often quite complicated, and it is not a secret that most executives, or ministers have a tough time going through policy documents before they sign them. This was a long running joke on the "Yes, Minister/Prime Minister" series.

This one was not complicated. The memorandum was about 1800 words which could be read by the average adult in 5 minutes. Essentially it provides a background of what the NSC is and then lists who makes up each of the 3 committees. If Trump is incapable of parsing that kind of document then he is completely hopeless.

[Bagor]

Originally Posted by peter12

No, it's not. Those things are often quite complicated, and it is not a secret that most executives, or ministers have a tough time going through policy documents before they sign them.

So that makes it ok?

That he never sought counsel or a tldr version on what he was signing or that he was misled as to what he was signing?

[Fozzie_DeBear]

Originally Posted by opendoor

This one was not complicated. The memorandum was about 1800 words which could be read by the average adult in 5 minutes. Essentially it provides a background of what the NSC is and then lists who makes up each of the 3 committees. If Trump is incapable of parsing that kind of document then he is completely hopeless.

There are unsubstantiated rumours that his literacy skills are...ahem...sub-par

[dash_pinched]

Originally Posted by DuffMan

Trump is Bannons puppet.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm

But until that happens...

Then we will keep seeing people across the political spectrum engage in a type of Kremlinology as they attempt to decipher the many crypto-conspiracies of the Trump administration.

"Liberals on the Edge of a Nervous Breakdown"

In the end, Kremlinology said a lot more about the people practicing it than it ever did about the Soviet Union. Like all fantasies, it expressed a desire. A universe that could make sense, if only you were smart enough to understand it. A politics that could be reduced to the competing ambitions of a few graying and liver-spotted men. Above all, a global order that—like the dull machinations of MI6 or the CIA—is always powered by conspiracy. So it’s significant that Kremlinology is back. Except this time, the mysterious closed system to be analyzed is no longer far away on the chilly edge of Europe. America has turned its suspicions inward, on the strange and spooky world of Donald Trump.