Post by miniroller on Oct 17, 2019 14:52:03 GMT -5
Great thread @ mbcdefg THANKS! Especially when considering Mulvaney’s BS response to a question that 45 won’t profit, & he doesn’t NEED to profit from G7 at Doral🙄
45’s just going all in now; & it’s beyond scary to watch how numb to it some have become &, thus, how despondent/ excusatory they are in their non-response(s).
Mick Mulvaney admits quid pro quo, based on a debunked conspiracy theory, during press conference.
I was listening to CNN and they were talking about this. It was predicted by several pundits apparently. More normalizing. If he comes out with it, he can defend more easily with "but it wasn't for my re-election campaign. It was in the country's best interest." and inquiries would have to follow the path of "what was he thinking?" and have to get into his head/thought processes, and meet a higher standard of proof that it was actually quid pro quo for re-election rather than for "nation's best interest" information gathering.
I don’t think Trump designed a war to keep himself in office. I think he bought into a stunt that Erdogan proposed to him - a conflict and brokered resolution to make him look presidential. Trump doesn't care about the collateral damage because the Kurds aren’t white and they aren’t going to build him a Trump tower. And Erdogan doesn’t particularly care about keeping up his end of the bargain - he got what he wanted pretty easily. Now he can embarrass us at his leisure.
Trump has shit the bed in a spectacular way. I honestly wonder just how thick the bubble is over at the WH that no one seems to get that.
I don’t think Trump designed a war to keep himself in office. I think he bought into a stunt that Erdogan proposed to him - a conflict and brokered resolution to make him look presidential. Trump doesn't care about the collateral damage because the Kurds aren’t white and they aren’t going to build him a Trump tower. And Erdogan doesn’t particularly care about keeping up his end of the bargain - he got what he wanted pretty easily. Now he can embarrass us at his leisure.
Trump has shit the bed in a spectacular way. I honestly wonder just how thick the bubble is over at the WH that no one seems to get that.
Yeah... and it's not playing particularly well with my military adjacent family. Granted, my brother is a retired Green Beret so it's definitely a different mindset than general military population, but still.
I just am aghast at the whole thing. Every day it's some new worse bullshit.
I don’t think Trump designed a war to keep himself in office. I think he bought into a stunt that Erdogan proposed to him - a conflict and brokered resolution to make him look presidential. Trump doesn't care about the collateral damage because the Kurds aren’t white and they aren’t going to build him a Trump tower. And Erdogan doesn’t particularly care about keeping up his end of the bargain - he got what he wanted pretty easily. Now he can embarrass us at his leisure.
Trump has shit the bed in a spectacular way. I honestly wonder just how thick the bubble is over at the WH that no one seems to get that.
DH and I just talked about this. I posed the question that I do not understand how Republicans can continue to back this. They're all bigoted cowards, but most of them are more intelligent than this. This was DH's (IMO, rather eloquent) response:
"They created such rigid purity tests trying to manipulate the base and now they're conversely stuck with the rabid base they created even though Trump adheres to none of them. And they can't go compete on any real thoughtful policy because the math is against them trying to win independents if the base doesn't turn out. They did not design their platform to be flexible or open to dissent. So now they sit with a hollow shell of values and policies inextricably linked to an amoral egotist who was in the right place at the right time to capitalize on the monster they created."
FWIW, I agree with you that this was not done by design. He isn't a good negotiator. He is a narcissist who is easily manipulated by people much smarter than him. As long as they can convince him something was his idea or that it will make him look good, he's all for it. Enter Putin and Erdogan. He is playing directly into their hands and it is for no other reason than that he is not intelligent or worldly enough to recognize it.
I don’t think Trump designed a war to keep himself in office. I think he bought into a stunt that Erdogan proposed to him - a conflict and brokered resolution to make him look presidential. Trump doesn't care about the collateral damage because the Kurds aren’t white and they aren’t going to build him a Trump tower. And Erdogan doesn’t particularly care about keeping up his end of the bargain - he got what he wanted pretty easily. Now he can embarrass us at his leisure.
Trump has shit the bed in a spectacular way. I honestly wonder just how thick the bubble is over at the WH that no one seems to get that.
DH and I just talked about this. I posed the question that I do not understand how Republicans can continue to back this. They're all bigoted cowards, but most of them are more intelligent than this. This was DH's (IMO, rather eloquent) response:
"They created such rigid purity tests trying to manipulate the base and now they're conversely stuck with the rabid base they created even though Trump adheres to none of them. And they can't go compete on any real thoughtful policy because the math is against them trying to win independents if the base doesn't turn out. They did not design their platform to be flexible or open to dissent. So now they sit with a hollow shell of values and policies inextricably linked to an amoral egotist who was in the right place at the right time to capitalize on the monster they created."
FWIW, I agree with you that this was not done by design. He isn't a good negotiator. He is a narcissist who is easily manipulated by people much smarter than him. As long as they can convince him something was his idea or that it will make him look good, he's all for it. Enter Putin and Erdogan. He is playing directly into their hands and it is for no other reason than that he is not intelligent or worldly enough to recognize it.
I agree with your H. It’s just a series of people capitalizing on one bad decision after another. Trump isn’t some master strategist. He trusts his fellow despots to help make him look good - and they know exactly what to say. He’s an easy mark, especially because he famously doesn’t pay attention in his briefings or trust anything the intel community tells him. Erdogan capitalized on that. Putin capitalizes on that. How does anyone convince him they aren’t his personal allies? I’m not sure it can be done.
We aren't even pretending that he isn't a corrupt dictator at this point. This is what happens when there is no one to stop him. He gets away with everything so why not keep pushing the boundaries. It's really depressing. I knew when he was elected that it was going to be bad, but I never expected that it would get this bad. It never even crossed my mind that the Republicans would let him go full on dictator and not do anything.
I feel like a crazy person for saying this, but I'm honestly starting to get worried that he will call off our elections. And the Republicans won't do anything.
I've been off the grid (literally and figuratively) since last Thursday. This... is quite something to come back to.
I was in China when the whole Ukraine story broke—we were there for 8 days. I could see the new notifications pop in but we could not open any links to read news articles. I knew something was going on but absolutely could not piece any of it together because the headlines seemed so bazaar and far-fetched.
We aren't even pretending that he isn't a corrupt dictator at this point. This is what happens when there is no one to stop him. He gets away with everything so why not keep pushing the boundaries. It's really depressing. I knew when he was elected that it was going to be bad, but I never expected that it would get this bad. It never even crossed my mind that the Republicans would let him go full on dictator and not do anything.
I feel like a crazy person for saying this, but I'm honestly starting to get worried that he will call off our elections. And the Republicans won't do anything.
And even if he doesn't go as far as trying to cancel the election, I have no doubt that he'll try some form of election tampering (whether indirect like 2016 or more direct) and the R's won't do a thing to stop him.
I don’t think Trump designed a war to keep himself in office. I think he bought into a stunt that Erdogan proposed to him - a conflict and brokered resolution to make him look presidential. Trump doesn't care about the collateral damage because the Kurds aren’t white and they aren’t going to build him a Trump tower. And Erdogan doesn’t particularly care about keeping up his end of the bargain - he got what he wanted pretty easily. Now he can embarrass us at his leisure.
Trump has shit the bed in a spectacular way. I honestly wonder just how thick the bubble is over at the WH that no one seems to get that.
I feel so demoralized about the future. There's so much going on, none of it sticks, his approval rating never drops below 40% so I fear he'll win reelection, and our best shot in the short term is the GOP doing something, and we know no one in the GOP will stand up to him because they love power and are ruled by fear...and motherfucking Mitch McConnell.
Just. Everything should tank him. Everything. Nothing does. And he's actively destroying the country.
This is clearly completely moot by now but... is... that... legal?
I have some limited awareness of how the government awards contracts and I... don't think that one person is just allowed to be like... we're going with this bid!
I’m praying someone with standing protests the award in the Court of federal claims or the GAO. If award of this contract followed normal procurement protocol, it would require a sole source justification under FAR part 6, which should have been published in advance. There’s zero chance this is a valid sole source.
And what about the Emoluments Clause? This seems like a textbook example that’s too simplistic to even illustrate the aim of the clause. “Suppose the president owns a resort...”
Eta- I see mulvaney says the event will be charged “at cost”. I’m guessing there already several FOIA requests for the contract and supporting documents. Also, will everything be at cost? Even the rooms and lodging for support staff and dignitaries and whatever other incidentals arise.
Trump is out giving statements like America brought peace between Turkey and the Kurds. So.
Mulvaney is also actively walking back his press conference so I don’t think it’s playing like he thought it would. Again with the bubble.
Not going to lie, I’m also extremely worried about another 4 years of this (or more). The GOP knows the only way to keep its power is through cheating. They’ve been doing it for years. Fixing elections is just the natural extension.
Mulvaney already backtracking on his quid pro quo comments:
Re: Rick Perry, I was also wondering why it was breaking news, but the clarification I read was that when the news came out last week (or a month ago? It’s easy to lose track of time in this administration) he denied it. And now he’s confirming it. Trump says he’s already got a successor lined up.
I don’t think Trump designed a war to keep himself in office. I think he bought into a stunt that Erdogan proposed to him - a conflict and brokered resolution to make him look presidential. Trump doesn't care about the collateral damage because the Kurds aren’t white and they aren’t going to build him a Trump tower. And Erdogan doesn’t particularly care about keeping up his end of the bargain - he got what he wanted pretty easily. Now he can embarrass us at his leisure.
Trump has shit the bed in a spectacular way. I honestly wonder just how thick the bubble is over at the WH that no one seems to get that.
DH and I just talked about this. I posed the question that I do not understand how Republicans can continue to back this. They're all bigoted cowards, but most of them are more intelligent than this. This was DH's (IMO, rather eloquent) response:
"They created such rigid purity tests trying to manipulate the base and now they're conversely stuck with the rabid base they created even though Trump adheres to none of them. And they can't go compete on any real thoughtful policy because the math is against them trying to win independents if the base doesn't turn out. They did not design their platform to be flexible or open to dissent. So now they sit with a hollow shell of values and policies inextricably linked to an amoral egotist who was in the right place at the right time to capitalize on the monster they created."
FWIW, I agree with you that this was not done by design. He isn't a good negotiator. He is a narcissist who is easily manipulated by people much smarter than him. As long as they can convince him something was his idea or that it will make him look good, he's all for it. Enter Putin and Erdogan. He is playing directly into their hands and it is for no other reason than that he is not intelligent or worldly enough to recognize it.
The Republicans I know don’t care about any of this, they only care that it’s not a Democrat. Like that’s it...we could go into the worst recession ever, a war with ISIS, and they’d still think he’s doing a great job and Democrats are at fault.
Sen. Merkley is introducing a bill to prevent the G7 being held at Doral, per his tweet:
"This G-7 announcement is corrupt. It's a violation of the Constitution. It's an abuse of power. And Congress can shut it down. I'm introducing a bill first thing next week to stop this corruption in it's tracks. More to come..."
Post by litebright on Oct 17, 2019 18:31:22 GMT -5
The earlier reports on Perry were based on sources telling reporters it was going to happen, before there was anything official. Now he has publicly announced it. That's why it feels like we already knew this was coming, because we did.
This is clearly completely moot by now but... is... that... legal?
I have some limited awareness of how the government awards contracts and I... don't think that one person is just allowed to be like... we're going with this bid!
I’m praying someone with standing protests the award in the Court of federal claims or the GAO. If award of this contract followed normal procurement protocol, it would require a sole source justification under FAR part 6, which should have been published in advance. There’s zero chance this is a valid sole source.
And what about the Emoluments Clause? This seems like a textbook example that’s too simplistic to even illustrate the aim of the clause. “Suppose the president owns a resort...”
Eta- I see mulvaney says the event will be charged “at cost”. I’m guessing there already several FOIA requests for the contract and supporting documents. Also, will everything be at cost? Even the rooms and lodging for support staff and dignitaries and whatever other incidentals arise.
I don’t care if it’s done at cost and he doesn’t make money from this event. It’s the absolute best advertising in the world. He absolutely benefits monetarily from this.
I’m praying someone with standing protests the award in the Court of federal claims or the GAO. If award of this contract followed normal procurement protocol, it would require a sole source justification under FAR part 6, which should have been published in advance. There’s zero chance this is a valid sole source.
And what about the Emoluments Clause? This seems like a textbook example that’s too simplistic to even illustrate the aim of the clause. “Suppose the president owns a resort...”
Eta- I see mulvaney says the event will be charged “at cost”. I’m guessing there already several FOIA requests for the contract and supporting documents. Also, will everything be at cost? Even the rooms and lodging for support staff and dignitaries and whatever other incidentals arise.
I don’t care if it’s done at cost and he doesn’t make money from this event. It’s the absolute best advertising in the world. He absolutely benefits monetarily from this.
At "cost"? Sure. The "cost" will include profit somehow.