Trump, May 2017: 100 days of [unintelligible]

"lose"

"his savoir faire"

― between the tall buildings are snow-coated alleys (Ye Mad Puffin), Monday, May 15, 2017 7:50 PM

dude, Reagan was an actor. He studied chalk marks on the ground.

history was made today

― your cognitive privilege (El Tomboto), Monday, May 15, 2017 8:14 PM

History is made at night.

The ugly background to this is that very large numbers of Americans pay little attention to this stuff and if the sole takeaway from their brief moment of paying attention is "Washington D.C. is in an uproar over Trump's actions", then quite a few of them will assume Trump must be doing something right if it upsets all the D.C. insiders.

The one massive self-inflicted would Trump has suffered that seems to have genuinely jolted his followers is the bag of shit called the AHCA. Health care is very real and immediate to people and Trump promised them the moon and stars and dancing unicorns, not 24 million poor folks kicked off coverage and massive cost increases for 55-65 year olds. That is a betrayal people grasp quickly and thoroughly.

AHCA has not jolted his followers fyi

Lord A., all I meant to do was question whether T. has any knowledge to lose.

84% of the GOP approves of Trump

they don't know what they approve of

David Frum‏Verified account @davidfrum 10m10 minutes ago

The president should resign.

Resign? He'll be doubling down on Twitter in a moment, giving out street addresses of intel contacts in Raqqa

AHCA has not jolted his followers fyi

Not like ABC cancelling Last Man Standing.

Loving this story

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/05/15/white-house-staff-hiding-as-russia-chaos-engulfs-west-wing

Especially

Some administration officials who supported Trump during the campaign said they were appalled at his apparent divulging of U.S. secrets, and considered it a break from his “America First” campaign mantra.

“With news like this I’m beginning to wonder why Trump ran in the first place and if he really cares about the country,” said a senior Trump appointee involved in counter-ISIS policymaking. “I miss candidate Trump. Now he’s just a pathetic mess.”

“I doubt he did it to collude [with the Russians]. I think he’s dumb and doesn’t know the difference,” a former FBI official who worked aspects of the Russia investigation told The Daily Beast. “He thinks he’s arranging some business deal except that he’s not.”

“I miss candidate Trump. Now he’s just a pathetic mess.”

go fuck yourself

I think he’s dumb and doesn’t know the difference,” a former FBI official who worked aspects of the Russia investigation told The Daily Beast. “He thinks he’s arranging some business deal except that he’s not

This I buy, above all else.

Anyway, I was thinking just this on the way home

Given McMaster is quoted denying things not being alleged in the story, wonder if he was a source.

— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) May 16, 2017

Just talked to friend in IC who has, until now, pointedly dismised anti-Trump hysteria.

He is foaming at mouth w/rage over tonight's story.

— Jeff B/DDHQ (@EsotericCD) May 16, 2017

"Shit like this is the end of Five Eyes if it goes on. He's not a traitor, he's a stupid f*****g idiot who can't be trusted to keep secrets"

— Jeff B/DDHQ (@EsotericCD) May 16, 2017

Predicting ANYTHING strikes me as a fool's game, but I kinda have a feeling that the last seven days will turn out to be a particular tipping point.

He's not a traitor, he's a stupid f*****g idiot who can't be trusted to keep secrets

wow amazing who could have seen this coming???????????

stoked for the coup while he's out of the country next week

wow amazing who could have seen this coming???????????

yeah seriously anyone who thought Trump was working some street smart rope a dope angle up until now is a drooling fucking moron, on par with the baby-brained idiot POTUS

There is no bigger banana republic in the world that the USA right now, so a palace coup is on the cards.

i wonder how much of this was due to the fact that he is incredibly lonely and the russians were the first visitors to his WH to slap his back and be nice to him

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/15/trump-russia-classified-information-238417

But several advisers and others close to Trump said they wouldn't be surprised if Trump gave information he shouldn't have.

One adviser who often speaks to the president said the conversation was likely freewheeling in the Oval Office, and he probably wanted to impress the officials.

"He doesn't really know any boundaries. He doesn't think in those terms," this adviser said. "He doesn't sometimes realize the implications of what he's saying. I don't think it was his intention in any way to share any classified information. He wouldn't want to do that."

so....

He's not a traitor, he's a stupid f*****g idiot who can't be trusted to keep secrets

And, short of inbred Habsburgs, he is the stupidest head of state of all time.

A good summary: https://www.lawfareblog.com/bombshell-initial-thoughts-washington-posts-game-changing-story

Violating the oath of office does not require violating a criminal statute. If the President decided to write the nuclear codes on a sticky note on his desk and then took a photo of it and tweeted it, he would not technically have violated any criminal law–just as he hasn’t here. He has the constitutional authority to dictate that the safeguarding of nuclear materials shall be done through sticky notes in plain sight and tweeted, even the authority to declassify the codes outright. Yet, we would all understand this degree of negligence to be a gross violation of his oath of office.

Congress has alleged oath violations—albeit violations tied to criminal allegations or breaches of statutory obligations—all three times it has passed or considered seriously articles of impeachment against presidents: against Andrew Johnson (“unmindful of the high duties of his oath of office”), Richard Nixon (“contrary to his oath”), and Bill Clinton (“in violation of his constitutional oath”). Further, two of the three articles of impeachment against Nixon alleged no direct violation of the law. Instead, they concerned Nixon’s abuse of his power as President, which, like the President putting the nuclear codes on Twitter, is an offense that can only be committed by the President and has thus never been explicitly prohibited in criminal law.

There’s thus no reason why Congress couldn’t consider a grotesque violation of the President’s oath as a standalone basis for impeachment—a high crime and misdemeanor in and of itself.

also the point about the combination of this incident with the possibility of trump having conversations in the office seems significant

The negative momentum right now is considerable. When is he supposed to skip town again?

friday

http://thehill.com/homenews/news/333504-paul-ryan-tweet-on-classified-info-resurfaces-after-bombshell-trump-report

Paul Ryan ✔@SpeakerRyan
Individuals who are "extremely careless" with classified information should be denied further access to such info.
12:30 PM - 7 Jul 2016

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-plans-first-presidential-overseas-trip-to-israel-vatican-and-saudi-arabia/2017/05/04/e5de3e76-30db-11e7-9534-00e4656c22aa_story.html

9 days! the summit with middle east allies may not go so well after today

speaking of which

That extramarital affair with Newt really paid off. https://t.co/ECHIBx4Mi3

— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) May 14, 2017

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C_zI-H_XsAECUEc.jpg

.@NYDailyNews comes out swinging.

Tomorrow's front page: "LEAKER OF THE FREE WORLD" pic.twitter.com/VNvgkpDdOs

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) May 16, 2017

Kushner has an uncanny ability to get himself into stories he has no business being in https://t.co/JI4S8Kv9l8 pic.twitter.com/lf1uHZ3hzX

— Stefan Becket (@becket) May 16, 2017

I feel like we're going to need more than one thread for this month

― your cognitive privilege (El Tomboto), Tuesday, May 9, 2017 6:58 PM (six days ago)

New one each week?

This thread moves in Trump time, it feels like it's a year old, not a month old.

two per week, comes out to about one per fresh scandal

We might not all be dead when Trump is gone, but we'll all feel like we're 80. Or dead.

Putin, you sly quipster:

He is acting in accordance with his competence

How will the history books handle this sad chapter in American history?

There won't be books left when the missiles land.

lol these threads are the same thing every day with little variation and will be for the next 4-8 years. you people are gluttons for pain.

David Brooks channeling David Roberts (without the courtesy of a hat-tip link):

Third, by adulthood most people can perceive how others are thinking. For example, they learn subtle arts such as false modesty so they won’t be perceived as obnoxious.

But Trump seems to have not yet developed a theory of mind. Other people are black boxes that supply either affirmation or disapproval. As a result, he is weirdly transparent. He wants people to love him, so he is constantly telling interviewers that he is widely loved. In Trump’s telling, every meeting was scheduled for 15 minutes but his guests stayed two hours because they liked him so much.

that seems right

lol these threads are the same thing every day with little variation and will be for the next 4-8 years. you people are gluttons for pain.

I think you mean ILM

both

Dana Milbank on Sean Spicer is a classic example of Beltwayism.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-has-sucked-the-lifeblood-out-of-sean-spicer/2017/05/15/5f2812b4-39b7-11e7-a058-ddbb23c75d82_story.html