American Politics Thread: Orange is the new POTUS

[afc wimbledon]

Apparently Roger Voldemort has died a year after getting kicked out of running Fox News, cue the conspiracy theories in 3,2,1..

[GreenLantern2814]

Originally Posted by afc wimbledon

Apparently Roger Voldemort has died a year after getting kicked out of running Fox News, cue the conspiracy theories in 3,2,1..

I think his fat cells got together and choked a bitch out.

[Biff]

Wolf Blitzer reading an on the record statement of POTUS regarding appointment of Special Counsel. Trump says "it hurts the country terribly because it shows we're a divided mixed-up not-unified country" and goes back to it all being an excuse for losing the election on the part of the Democrats.

okay. o.O

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/18/politi...r-appointment/

edit: now with link

[ernie]

Originally Posted by troutman

Senate Moves Forward with Bipartisan Bill to Rein in Jeff Sessions

Co-sponsors Rand Paul and Patrick Leahy call out the Attorney General's backwards approach to criminal justice, the drug war and mandatory minimums

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics...ssions-w482927

They confirmed him with no republicans dissenting in early Feb. Three months later this.

Hey maybe the senate should actually truly vet people they are to confirm instead of treating it like a dog and pony show. Yeesh.

[Biff]

Senator Claire McCaskill states in media scrum that Rosenstein confirmed that he knew Comey was going to be dismissed before he wrote his memo to Trump.

Edit: Added Link to WaPo story

https://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...=.a6455640e5de

[ernie]

Originally Posted by Biff

Senator Claire McCaskill states in media scrum that Rosenstein confirmed that he knew Comey was going to be dismissed before he wrote his memo to Trump.

Makes sense. Rosenstein was happy to play along until he got thrown under the bus so now he's busy covering his own behind and the quickest way to do that is to appoint a special counsel. A highly respected counsel. Also fits with the surprise from all sides that Rosenstein did that.

[FlameOn]

Originally Posted by ernie

Makes sense. Rosenstein was happy to play along until he got thrown under the bus so now he's busy covering his own behind and the quickest way to do that is to appoint a special counsel. A highly respected counsel. Also fits with the surprise from all sides that Rosenstein did that.

The other possibility may be that he knew that the dismissal of Comey would cause enough outrage that a special counsel would be demanded. Or maybe there wasn't enough public knowledge of impropriety that he could use to justify appointing one until Trump very publicly and stupidly had Comey fired.

Hard to say what the motivations are, but the right thing happened to get an investigation going.

[HockeyIlliterate]

Originally Posted by Biff

Senator Claire McCaskill states in media scrum that Rosenstein confirmed that he knew Comey was going to be dismissed before he wrote his memo to Trump.

Edit: Added Link to WaPo story

https://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...=.a6455640e5de

So then why did he write the memo?

Why didn't he tell Trump, "No, I will not write what you want me to write because I do not believe that such writings would be true?"

Does he care more about his paycheck than actual justice and honesty?

[accord1999]

Originally Posted by HockeyIlliterate

So then why did he write the memo?

Why didn't he tell Trump, "No, I will not write what you want me to write because I do not believe that such writings would be true?"

Does he care more about his paycheck than actual justice and honesty?

May be he still agrees with the firing of Comey, who's committed a number of mistakes and is hated by both sides.

[HockeyIlliterate]

Originally Posted by accord1999

May be he still agrees with the firing of Comey, who's committed a number of mistakes and is hated by both sides.

I certainly overlooked that possibility.

[Biff]

Originally Posted by HockeyIlliterate

So then why did he write the memo?

Why didn't he tell Trump, "No, I will not write what you want me to write because I do not believe that such writings would be true?"

Does he care more about his paycheck than actual justice and honesty?

One of the other Senators (I think it was), suggested that he had the choice to resign or appoint a Special Counsel in order to preserve his personal integrity and chose the latter, correctly. I'm not sure it washes, but it's one alternative explanation that's been offered.

[photon]

But Trump doesn’t just hope that Flynn will beat the rap. Several sources close to Flynn and to the administration tell The Daily Beast that Trump has expressed his hopes that a resolution of the FBI’s investigation in Flynn’s favor might allow Flynn to rejoin the White House in some capacity—a scenario some of Trump’s closest advisers in and outside the West Wing have assured him absolutely should not happen.

Those sources said Trump didn’t believe Flynn should be under investigation in the first place.

“Trump feels really, really, really, bad about firing him, and he genuinely thinks if the investigation is over Flynn can come back,” said one White House official.

One former FBI official and a second government official said Trump thought he owed Flynn for how things ended up and was determined to clear Flynn’s name and bring him back to the White House.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/article...hite-house-job

[photon]

Originally Posted by Biff

One of the other Senators (I think it was), suggested that he had the choice to resign or appoint a Special Counsel in order to preserve his personal integrity and chose the latter, correctly. I'm not sure it washes, but it's one alternative explanation that's been offered.

Maybe. The memo he wrote certainly doesn't look like something from the DoJ, it reads more like an oppo piece. Quoting what was being said about Comey rather than objectively evaluating actions against norms and standards did a lot to hurt his reputation by itself, let alone doing it to retroactively justify an already made decision.

[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by HockeyIlliterate

So then why did he write the memo?

Why didn't he tell Trump, "No, I will not write what you want me to write because I do not believe that such writings would be true?"

Does he care more about his paycheck than actual justice and honesty?

Could have been setting a bear trap for Trump to walk into. Says, "Sure, I'll write you the memo as you demand it, and you can use it, but be prepared for me to come clean on the truth if pushed on this." Trump is so arrogant to believe that no one would question him, then take a stand after the fact to retain their integrity. When Rosenstein's memo first came out there were people saying that didn't sound like him, so the possibility is he setup Trump to build the paper trail.

[Biff]

Trump, in answering a reporter's question at the press conference, doubles-down on Rosenstein choosing to write the letter as a result of Comey's bad performance possibly including, or in response to, Comey's testimony a week-ago Wednesday.

[photon]

Cable cars can be a bit scary...

President Donald Trump has canceled a planned visit and speech at the ancient mountain fortress of Masada in Israel after authorities told him that he could not land his helicopter on top of the UNESCO-listed site.

Instead, Trump will now deliver a speech at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. It comes after an Israeli Air Force (IAF) regulation that prevents helicopters landing at the summit of the Masada site, according to Israel’s Channel 2 broadcaster.

Unlike former presidents who have made the trip, such as George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, Trump declined to land the helicopter at a base of the historic site and then take the cable car up, preferring to cancel the visit altogether.

http://www.newsweek.com/trump-cancel...landing-611287

[saillias]

Originally Posted by HockeyIlliterate

So then why did he write the memo?

Why didn't he tell Trump, "No, I will not write what you want me to write because I do not believe that such writings would be true?"

Does he care more about his paycheck than actual justice and honesty?

To play along with what was already happening, appear to be on their side and not get fired, I'm assuming. Thus allowing himself the time to appoint a special prosecutor.

[chemgear]

Flynn Russia investigation now moving to a "criminal investigation."

[longsuffering]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

This, Nixon was a extreme paranoid personality.

But among his biggest accomplishments

His diplomatic strides in China and with Moscow

He established the EPA

Ending the draft

Title IX and desegregation efforts in Southern Schools

Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with Russia.

He was actually pretty competent, he also used the peace dividend to fund social programs.

He was a pretty competent president and got more done through consensus then most other presidents.

But he was a paranoid angry man and that was his downfall.

You left off a couple highlights:

- extended the Vietnam War, including a secret and illegal bombing campaign in Cambodia

- placed marijuana in the class 1 list of drugs (the same as heroin), started the war on drugs, created the DEA, leading to wasteful spending of hundreds of million of dollars and countless man hours wasted fighting "the scourge that is marijuana"

[afc wimbledon]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

This, Nixon was a extreme paranoid personality.

But among his biggest accomplishments

His diplomatic strides in China and with Moscow

He established the EPA

Ending the draft

Title IX and desegregation efforts in Southern Schools

Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with Russia.

He was actually pretty competent, he also used the peace dividend to fund social programs.

He was a pretty competent president and got more done through consensus then most other presidents.

But he was a paranoid angry man and that was his downfall.

It was his downfall after several decades in the upper reaches of power, its an insult to Nixon to compare him to a dofus like Trump, Nixon would have had Flynn killed before any of this became a problem