American Politics Thread: Orange is the new POTUS

[FlameOn]

As the FBI was raiding the offices of the GOP fundraiser in Annapolis, the FBI posted this on their twitter account.



Curious timing to say the least.

https://mobile.twitter.com/FBI/statu...17552400584704

[Cube Inmate]

Originally Posted by FlameOn

I think this is the biggest indication Russia is done with Trump and he's on his own.

Nothing has changed Russia's opinion of Trump; he wasn't expected to "do Russia's bidding" as many believed...their intent all along was simply to install the person who would do the most harm to America and its reputation.

Having succeeded with Part 1 of this plan, they've moved on to Part 2 which consists of mocking and belittling both Trump and the American people for having elected him. By eroding the USA's moral foundation further, Putin can take bolder actions than ever before.

"No puppet. No puppet. You're the puppet."

[driveway]

So, I know that citing a Breitbart story is ... well, it's Breitbart... but really, this one is pretty awesome.

http://www.breitbart.com/big-governm...n-white-house/

President Donald Trump is planning to hang a portrait of his electoral college win over Hillary Clinton in the White House, according to reports.
A reporter for the One America News Network spotted a White House staffer walking through the building with a framed map of the electoral college victory.

Spoiler!

[rubecube]

^^This thread sure does enjoy its share of fatas.

[direwolf]

Donald J. Trump‏Verified account
@realDonaldTrump

Russia must be laughing up their sleeves watching as the U.S. tears itself apart over a Democrat EXCUSE for losing the election.

1:34 PM - 11 May 2017

[Senator Clay Davis]

Trump sends Kellyanne and Spicer and Huckabee and Pence to try and sell a story. Trump then proceeds to immediately destroy that story. I'd like to feel sorry for them, but they can always resign, so maybe show a spine?

Philip Rucker‏Verified account @PhilipRucker 2h2 hours ago
Trump to NBC: "When I decided to [fire Comey], I said to myself, you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made up story."

https://twitter.com/PhilipRucker/sta...99949196656640

[photon]

I pledge allegiance to the hair of the president of the...

WASHINGTON — Only seven days after Donald J. Trump was sworn in as president, James B. Comey has told associates, the F.B.I. director was summoned to the White House for a one-on-one dinner with the new commander in chief.

The conversation that night in January, Mr. Comey now believes, was a harbinger of his downfall this week as head of the F.B.I., according to two people who have heard his account of the dinner.

As they ate, the president and Mr. Comey made small talk about the election and the crowd sizes at Mr. Trump’s rallies. The president then turned the conversation to whether Mr. Comey would pledge his loyalty to him.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/11/u...ey-firing.html

[photon]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Trump sends Kellyanne and Spicer and Huckabee and Pence to try and sell a story. Trump then proceeds to immediately destroy that story. I'd like to feel sorry for them, but they can always resign, so maybe show a spine?

https://twitter.com/PhilipRucker/sta...99949196656640

Isn't that basically an admission to obstruction of justice? Guilty or not removing Comey to impact the investigation is obstruction.

[KevanGuy]

I've been mulling this over for a couple days now and Anderson Cooper just mentioned it so I feel more comfortable bringing it up. If this issue evolved into an armed civil conflict or war, what would it look like? And what type of incident could spark it?

If the military and militias side with Trump depends on the issue that causes the war of course. But in the case that they did, who would make up the other side?

Gangs? Drug lords? People at risk of being forcibly deported? How loyal are the militaries to the States they're based in? Would the majority of the Army in California support the opposite side to one based in Virginia?

And what kind of incident would it take? If Trump ordered the military to deport all illegal immigrants immediately? Would his assassination be enough? I don't think it would be at this point but if more anger starts brewing who knows.

[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by photon

Isn't that basically an admission to obstruction of justice? Guilty or not removing Comey to impact the investigation is obstruction.

I've been asking that same question to friends in the government and law enforcement communities. So far, it's been nothing but a confusing debate over interpretation. I think it's obstruction.

Originally Posted by KevanGuy

I've been mulling this over for a couple days now and Anderson Cooper just mentioned it so I feel more comfortable bringing it up. If this issue evolved into an armed civil conflict or war, what would it look like? And what type of incident could spark it?

If the military and militias side with Trump depends on the issue that causes the war of course. But in the case that they did, who would make up the other side?

Gangs? Drug lords? People at risk of being forcibly deported? How loyal are the militaries to the States they're based in? Would the majority of the Army in California support the opposite side to one based in Virginia?

And what kind of incident would it take? If Trump ordered the military to deport all illegal immigrants immediately? Would his assassination be enough? I don't think it would be at this point but if more anger starts brewing who knows.

It's kind of a powder keg right now. A lot of hard feelings out there. The RW Trump supporters (Tea Party types) have really become emotionally invested in Trump and his success, and anything short of him being able to deliver on his promises will just inflame their belief the world is against him and them. If Trump gets impeached or forced to resign, there could be trouble. On your latter scenario, that would definitely lead to violence. I would not want to be identified as a liberal in that scenario.

[KevanGuy]

Right, I was running that senario too. The moment his supporters discover he can't deliver and they did have something to loose.

[Cube Inmate]

Originally Posted by KevanGuy

If this issue evolved into an armed civil conflict or war, what would it look like? And what type of incident could spark it?

The only thing I can imagine precipitating this is the administration's refusal to step down when demanded to do so by legal means (eg impeachment or 25th amendment declaration). When seeing their cult leader forcibly, physically taken into custody, the informal militia nuts might stage an uprising... But I can't see it turning into a "government vs the people" thing, so much as a "everyone vs the Fringe nut jobs." I trust that faction would be smaller than the 25% who still strongly support the goblin, but maybe not.

I hope I'm right. Nothing would be more cleansing than to see that turd physically removed from what was once a respected office.

[oldschoolcalgary]

Originally Posted by KevanGuy

I've been mulling this over for a couple days now and Anderson Cooper just mentioned it so I feel more comfortable bringing it up. If this issue evolved into an armed civil conflict or war, what would it look like? And what type of incident could spark it?

once upon a time, i've would have said that the odds of this happening are slim to none...

But we live in strange times... so I don't believe that this is impossible anymore, but i do believe that its still remote...

the funny thing is, i used to listen to "Coast to Coast AM", which was pretty harmless, late night fare that primarily focused on things like UFOs, ghost stories, Big Foot and, yes, things like the Illuminati or Belzenburg group (same thing, a kind of shadowy group of elites controlling things)...

Anyways, they started going a little more nuttier and began putting on Alex Jones as a guest... some things, like the 9/11 conspiracy stuff at first seemed pretty far fetched, but was entertaining like how the kennedy assassination stories were entertaining.

however, and i don't recall if it was Alex Jones, but they started talking about things like a revolution and that their rights were being taken away, the idea that New Town was a government "false flag" operation etc... and you wouldn't believe the kind of calls that came in on these programs...just incredible hate and vitriol towards the government... it was about that time i stopped listening, but i recall being absolutely gobsmacked about A) how angry the callers were and B) how much they bought into this crap...

If Trump is impeached, it might simply reinforce this fringe group's idea that the government is corrupt and they are seeking to 'silence' Trump... as crazy as that might sound...

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by FlameOn

As the FBI was raiding the offices of the GOP fundraiser in Annapolis, the FBI posted this on their twitter account.



Curious timing to say the least.

https://mobile.twitter.com/FBI/statu...17552400584704

Sounds like it's related to​ a 2013 case where a PAC used solicited funds for personal enrichment and not the politician it was intended for

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by KevanGuy

I've been mulling this over for a couple days now and Anderson Cooper just mentioned it so I feel more comfortable bringing it up. If this issue evolved into an armed civil conflict or war, what would it look like? And what type of incident could spark it?

If the military and militias side with Trump depends on the issue that causes the war of course. But in the case that they did, who would make up the other side?

Gangs? Drug lords? People at risk of being forcibly deported? How loyal are the militaries to the States they're based in? Would the majority of the Army in California support the opposite side to one based in Virginia?

And what kind of incident would it take? If Trump ordered the military to deport all illegal immigrants immediately? Would his assassination be enough? I don't think it would be at this point but if more anger starts brewing who knows.

What tends to happen in these situations is that soldiers and high ranking people abandon their federal posts and return to their home state/province/republic and join the militias. Often they will seize the military equipment and weaponry in their home states to boost their power.

It's difficult to imagine it getting to that point, but you never know. You can add in the anarchy factor as lawlessness would be bound to occur in some area. And if the government fell into disarray and soldiers stop getting paid, many would looks elsewhere for a paycheque.

Several years ago, I was having a friendly conversation with some people from Tennessee and the topic turned to the Civil War, and I was surprised that they still called it the war of "northern aggression" and felt that another civil war was possible one day. That was during the W era. I would like to think that they are a small minority, but sometimes I wonder.

[Street Pharmacist]

https://twitter.com/ProPublica/statu...50408770547717

[rubecube]

One of the biggest factors in civil wars or uprisings is a crisis of legitimacy. We're pretty much at that point with Trump. If he's cleared of everything after all of these firings, the left is going to be absolutely incensed. If he's impeached, the alt+right is going to be apoplectic.

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally Posted by Cube Inmate

But I can't see it turning into a "government vs the people" thing, so much as a "everyone vs the Fringe nut jobs." I trust that faction would be smaller than the 25% who still strongly support the goblin, but maybe not.

Agreed. That faction would be much closer to zero than the 25% that currently strongly support him.

The number of people willing to take up arms or risk their lives to defend this lunatic would be limited to the lunatic fringe. And those would be real lunatics, not the regular folks duped into voting for him. We're talking hermits, basement gun nuts, and CHUDS.

[driveway]

While there are some scary trends that indicate violence is possible in America, large scale insurrection/war is almost certainly not going to happen for a very simple reason:

There are not enough teenagers (relative to over 35s) in America. Revolutions and civil wars almost exclusively occur when there is a significant population of young, unemployed men. I consider it incredibly unlikely that a large enough number of middle aged militia members will make the choice to actually take to the streets to do violence instead of going to work.

I also doubt there would be a significant split in the military, I suspect that the civilian DoD command structure and the Joint Chiefs would disobey an order like "round up and deport." Particularly as it would almost certainly be instantly stayed by a court.

We've already seen Customs and Border follow the dictates of the courts over Trump's EO's. While Congressional republicans are showing themselves to be far more craven than even I expected, most institutions seem to be holding up rather well to the Trump "stress test"

[direwolf]

Any bets on who's going to play Sarah Huckabee on SNL this weekend? My money is on Cecily Strong.