Trump, May 2017: 100 days of [unintelligible]

i guess trump is in favour of dismantling the world's most technically advanced military and... outfitting troops with handheld rubber catapults to lob nukes at the enemy?

You can't hack a catapult.

fuck catapults, trebuchets for life

A point that I don't see being made nearly enough: beyond all questions of whether it's advisable or potentially beneficial to foster good relations with them, the fact remains that Trump is clearly more concerned with being tight and friction-free bros with Russia than he is with soothing discord within the country over which he presides. It's like going to great pains to befriend your neighbor lady while you neglect and insult your own wife. You might be forgiven for believing he favors one over the other.

Republicans have been against 'gotcha' questions since the country elected _and re-elected_ GWB.

i was watching that bizarre tv interview with putin dressed in full hockey gear ahead of taking to the ice to let some world-class athletes give him an easy ride and i was thinking 'man i bet trump wishes he could do that'

fuck catapults, trebuchets for life

otm, trebuchets are metal as fuck imo

how you gonna trebuchet a airplane without digital tho

We have to humiliate the enemy. And if we don’t humiliate them, we’re going to have our kids continuing to go and fight for ISIS. We have kids leaving this country because they’re so damned good at the internet, ISIS, they’re better at the internet than Google. You know it’s a smart enemy. Believe it or not.

uh

ISIS, they’re better at the internet than Google

is hyperbolically praising isis to the media part of his plan to defeat them in 30 days?

I hope he mentioned his ideas about catapults to the generals he convened to come up with the Plan to Defeat ISIS, one of his most brilliant campaign ideas

ISIS is so punk rock now

Spotted: A map to be hung somewhere in the West Wing pic.twitter.com/TpPPDyNFtE

— Trey Yingst (@TreyYingst) May 11, 2017

we have to make ISIS less like Google, more like Bing

oh neat a population density map

The red areas are good for fracking

"We have to humiliate the enemy."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/11/politics/oval-office-photos-donald-trump-russians/index.html

"They tricked us," an angry White House official said.

"That's the problem with the Russians -- they lie," the official added.

oh neat a population density map

― jason waterfalls (gbx), Thursday, May 11, 2017 10:16 AM (four minutes ago)

dude this motherfucking president dense one

senate intel hearing on now. should be interesting

I'm just sitting here waiting for the Kraken to be released

Every other word in my thoughts today is FUCKING FUCK

(this is greater than the usual frequency)

Trump had “essentially declared war on a lot of people at the FBI,” one official said. “I think there will be a concerted effort to respond over time in kind.”

@tinyrevolution
Uh maybe we also don't want a country that works like this

yeah maybe we don't want a country that elects people like donald trump either but you play with the cards u were dealt

i don't think any leftists should lose any sleep that an organization infamous for abusing power, that was a solid pro-Trump voting block, have had a falling out w/ their fuhrer and now want to undermine him.

the problem with the whole "if trump is impeached the republicans will be able to easily dissociate themselves from them" narrative is that it assumes a state of affairs where denying trump will be necessary or desirable, the emergence of a "smoking gun" tape that fundamentally changes the narrative. does trump look like Fat Elvis? and what will make america, as a country, turn against Fat Elvis? the people who are on his side now, _nothing_ will change that.

the republicans are the party of trump now and that is not going to change.

cool, let's just have groups of elitist bullies fight for power til we all bake/drown

ok u go stop them and let me know how it goes

http://theconcourse.deadspin.com/the-fbi-was-never-going-to-save-the-republic-you-dolt-1795093830

(via kingfish)

The reason a lot of people will remain on his side is that they don't want to admit they were snookered (or have admitted to themselves but have concluded they can't fight it). Meantime, as noted, the president himself is whiny, impulsive, erratic.

Per Tombot's wise points all throughout the year, if/when people die because of this dynamic is the real fear. But I have no pity for anyone still vocally saying they're on his side, and will enjoy watching them twist in the wind because they're defending the void.

Did they ever release the numbers for the Fat Elvis vs. Thin Elvis stamps? How much did Fat Elvis lose by, and who certified those results? This is important! Tampering with novelty stamp votes is a federal offense!

the fact remains that Trump is clearly more concerned with being tight and friction-free bros with Russia than he is with soothing discord within the country over which he presides.

fwiw, it does seem that straightforward at all. The administration is pressing forward with intensifying the Magnitsky Act:

https://www.buzzfeed.com/mikehayes/the-trump-administration-is-moving-forward-with-an-obama?utm_term=.hlYranqwQ3#.sn75aOZDLj

and has just put through a bill designed to target Russia's position in Abkhazia meaning that any country that recognises it as part of Russia, rather than part of Georgia, is automatically barred from receiving foreign aid. This is beyond the Obama position and would normally be seen as a pretty hostile move.

https://www.rferl.org/a/georgia-kvirikashvili-trump-abkhazia-south-ossetia/28475046.html

As a whole, i wouldn't say Trump's position on Russia is any more coherent than his position on anything else but it doesn't seem designed to foster good relations at all costs.

The myth of white supremacy is a sick and incoherent ideology which exists in utter contradiction to logic, justice, and even, ultimately, self-interest. Trump is the purest distillation yet of this myth made manifest and so, to the extent that the GOP is fueled by this ideology (which would be, like, to the full extent), they're absolutely the party of Trump.

cool, let's just have groups of elitist bullies fight for power til we all bake/drown

― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 11 May 2017 14:34 (three minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

welcome to human history, make yourself comfortable

this is the board where i get accused of "toxic cynicism," right?

*checks board*

yes

soooo cute. you and Mordy shd be roomies!

cynicism is sentimentality about life gone to seed so

thx for quoting me. mayb just call it "Mordyism" then

on the free press front

West Virginia state police arrested Dan Heyman, a veteran reporter with Public News Service, for repeatedly asking Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price whether being a target of domestic violence would be considered a “pre-existing condition,” allowing health insurance to be denied, under the new Republican healthcare bill.

The charge: “willful disruption of governmental processes.”

http://fair.org/home/action-alert-asking-questions-of-government-figures-is-not-a-crime/

soooo cute. you and Mordy shd be roomies!

go pitch it to dennis perrin, he needs the work

http://images.classicalite.com/data/images/full/18434/the-king-of-comedy.jpg

Is @tinyrevolution against bureaucracy?

It's worth discussing the ways in which we feel various bureaucratic institutions should and should not interact, given that we will most likely find ourselves in the position of having to rebuild what's left of our society sometime within our lifetimes.

Freddie de Boer should be here any minute

I'm at the point where I feel that maintaining cynicism is a heroic and praiseworthy ideal in the face of the nihilistic void that beckons upon honest appraisal of our current situation.

meanwhile Jonah has questions about The Economist interview:

So, I’m honestly curious. What is the right way to interpret Trump’s statement that he coined the phrase “prime the pump” a few days ago? Did he forget? Was he playing a game with the editors of The Economist? If so, what possible benefit would he get? I’m really interested in knowing what the best possible explanation could be?

is anyone going to ask mccabe tough questions? wyden, maybe?

The phrase 'priming the pump' dates to the early 19th century.

— Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) May 11, 2017

lol

What is the right way to interpret Trump’s statement that he coined the phrase “prime the pump” a few days ago?

well uh he's a massive narcissist who will shamelessly seek every opportunity to inflate his achievements no matter how patently, insanely untrue the resulting statement is

good talk jonah, hope living in your car is working out okay