US Politics, February 2018: Our country was founded by geniuses, but it’s being run by idiots

only donald trump has the guts to shore up america’s piss-weak military! sad!

https://www.pgpf.org/sites/default/files/0053_defense-comparison-full.gif

just how much extra money has been spent on the opioid crisis that Trump declared an emergency ?

*crickets*

611 billion dollars is only a little less than the gdp of Saudi Arabia fyi

If you could save $100,000/year, it would take you 6,110,000 years to save 611 billion dollars. If you could save $10,000 every single day, then it would only take you 167,397 years to save 611 billion.

It's probably millions. Do you have any idea how expensive quality opioids are, man?

I spend tens of thousands on my own opioid crisis every year.

It would be cool if the next president repurposed ICE to shut down e.g. the 'clinic' in my mom's microtown which always has the blinds pulled and always has multiple out-of-state cars parked out front and might as well have a neon sign reading 'Dr. Feelgood' above the door.

why do u hate the entrepreneurial spirit of small-town physicians

NEWS: White House staff secretary Robert Porter is leaving his post amid allegations that he was abusive toward his ex-wives. Story coming soon to @WSJ.

— Rebecca Ballhaus (@rebeccaballhaus) February 7, 2018

no place for abusive men in the white house iirc

with rob porter’s departure, no one in this photo works for trump anymore pic.twitter.com/FLgU8CRl2B

— kelly cohen (@politiCOHEN_) February 7, 2018

well, he's been president a whole year, so of course all his original staff has been fired or driven away, with several positions that have been filled and emptied multiple times. I mean, there are TWELVE whole months in a year, so what else would you expect to happen?

really seems like Steinbrenner w/ less winning

^ next month's politics thread title?

Aside from Pence, seems like Hicks is the last person standing outside of immediate family.

all those people are still Trump's mouthpieces on cable TV though

if y'all know a better way to drain the swamp than to hire swamp things and then fire them, I'm all ears

In fairness, I guess we never thought to ask whether the runoff from the drained swamp was going to be routed directly into the White House.

of course all his original staff has been fired or driven away

Duh. We have a president whose whole thing was firing people on a television show.

He wasn't elected, he was just... renewed for more seasons.

those fired swamp things in full

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/marvel_dc/images/4/40/Swamp_Thing_v.2_167.jpg

Parliament of Sleaze

lol

really seems like Steinbrenner w/ less winning
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, February 7, 2018 2:06 PM (nineteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

crossing fingers that Bannon unlike Billy does not get four more chances

Whomp whomp, again

West Wing staffers angry with Kelly for defending Porter https://t.co/froI2d2PW7

— Gabriel Sherman (@gabrielsherman) February 7, 2018

Also, he's dating Hicks? Yeahhh that's about to end.

kelly is such a piece of shit

Remember -- he's the moderating force!

I for one still believe that a knife-wielding maniac has the sobriety and the sanity to moderate the impulsive nature of a sword-wielding maniac.

that porter story from his second wife is unbelievable, but the most bizarre thing is that she says he belongs in the White House and doesn't think these things are pertinent. what?

on the bullshit United States of Care astroturf

"'I want to be very clear when I say this,' Willoughby said. 'I don't want to be married to him. I would not recommend anyone to date him or marry him. But I definitely want him in the White House and the position he is in. I think his integrity and ability to do his job is impeccable. And the majority of the issues he suffers from are very personal and intimate.'"

uh alright.

come on he totally belongs in the white house

he totally belongs in the white house

look at who else is there, how high can the bar be?

some idiot on NPR ascribed Kelly's "daca candidates are too lazy to sign up" comment to being influenced by Stephen Miller, not because he is, in fact, a piece of shit

The WH is a gigantic playpen for the mentally unbalanced. Of course he belongs there.

Great job all around.

NEW: John Kelly tried to save Rob Porter, "time off" was floated https://t.co/TL7otdMe2E

— Justin Miller (@justinjm1) February 7, 2018

If, in fact, that piece from a day or two ago seemingly sourced from Jared/Ivanka-world about Kelly on thin ice was a sign in general, this really is timing from the gods here.

Also:

Another recently-resigned Trump aide said that there would be a “smooth transition” around Porter’s exit.

Hm, any guesses?

This'll be something:

The White House did not say who would replace Porter as Staff Secretary. But the hole will be hard to fill. Porter had been playing an increasingly sizeable role in hour-to-hour operations and policy discussions inside the West Wing. Colleagues, former and current, said that his ascendancy was in part due to the fact that the president’s inner circle had been starved for actual in-house policy minds.

And what a pleasant bunch of people all around:

Kelly, in particular, valued Porter’s contributions to bringing at least a small measure of stability and limited control to an Oval Office that he himself was trying to rid of dysfunction. One of Porter’s main responsibilities was to control the paperflow to the president’s desk (a hallmark of the Kelly era) in the hopes of curtailing the amount of fringe and far-right news articles and memos that used to flood Trump’s deskspace.

It was an initiative that routinely chafed the impulsive and stubborn president. According to two White House sources, Trump would bristle at Porter when he entered the Oval Office with large stacks of documents for the president to sign. Before long, Porter became synonymous in Trump’s mind with the mundane clerical work that his staffer would pile upon the Resolute Desk.

“Oh, here we go,” Trump would often sneer at Porter, papers in tow, as the president noticeably rolled his eyes before grabbing a pen.

so we're to believe our current trump is trump restrained? I shiver to think what is going to happen without portman there to sieve the info into his mind. it's going to be fucking sunday morning twitter time all the time now.

a “smooth transition” around Porter’s exit.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DVdB8bNU0AAcU4D.jpg

i love that everyone in this photo is doing their "thing"

"Not sure about this film, we're going to need a little backstory on these characters, you can't get by on just their mannerisms."

particularly fond of lewandowski’s real-grip-action gi joe hands

(insert "Ocean's Eleven" style background music)

"We're gonna need a Boesky, two Andrettis, a Mooch and a... whatever that thing is."

"'I want to be very clear when I say this,' Willoughby said. 'I don't want to be married to him. I would not recommend anyone to date him or marry him. But I definitely want him in the White House and the position he is in. I think his integrity and ability to do his job is impeccable. And the majority of the issues he suffers from are very personal and intimate.'"

jfc we're never going to be rid of this scourge

The one thing I hate more than Trumps dumbass tweets is media doing a 'take' on it. Like this piece. All those words based on a 5 word tweet. Fuck off.

"sure he beats the shit out of me but lookit, he's a bigoted sociopath and wields an inordinate mount of power right now. let's make sure we're focusing on what's really important"

yea I still think dedicating several cable news cycles to "Did Hillary and Obama *really* create ISIS??" was the most infuriating moment of the election

lol Chuck Todd worries that Pelosi's speech will make her the "target" of GOP ads in the fall. As if she wasn't already.