US Politics, June 2018: This is a total goat rodeo.

the people around him ... are they stupid? Lunatics? Mere enablers?

Yes.

Trump is the most popular politician in the GOP. Literally the only thing these guys care about is staying in power. I don’t think there’s too much more to read into it

So will they literally do anything, no matter how stupid, to stay in "power"? And what good is being in power, if you are required to do stupid stuff to stay there, and said stupid stuff erodes said power? Because it doesn't seem to be expanding their power.

Anyway, November couldn't come sooner. And if there's no change in November, we're all doomed for real, probably.

They’ve all bent to the whim of a reality show who is too stupid to sit through an intelligence briefing that isn’t broken down into 5 easy bullet points. I don’t think it’s a question anymore

I think it's safe to assume that the GOP will debase themselves to whatever extent Trump expects of them. And it's all about what serves everyone the best in the immediate moment. They'll worry about tomorrow tomorrow.

on a related note, we're about to go to a meeting on nuclear weapons without an expert on nuclear weapons. our last secretary of energy was ernest moniz, who has a phd in theoretical physics from stanford. our current secretary of energy is rick perry.

WASHINGTON — As President Trump prepares to meet Kim Jong-un of North Korea to negotiate denuclearization, a challenge that has bedeviled the world for years, he is doing so without the help of a White House science adviser or senior counselor trained in nuclear physics.

Mr. Trump is the first president since 1941 not to name a science adviser, a position created during World War II to guide the Oval Office on technical matters ranging from nuclear warfare to global pandemics. As a businessman and president, Mr. Trump has proudly been guided by his instincts. Nevertheless, people who have participated in past nuclear negotiations say the absence of such high-level expertise could put him at a tactical disadvantage in one of the weightiest diplomatic matters of his presidency.

“You need to have an empowered senior science adviser at the table,” said R. Nicholas Burns, who led negotiations with India over a civilian nuclear deal during the George W. Bush administration. “You can be sure the other side will have that.”

David Frum gets it.

Trump is locked into a cycle in his top-level diplomacy: bully-cringe-bully-cringe. He bullies traditional friends and allies; he cringes to adversaries, dictators, and potential funding sources for Trump enterprises. Bullying the G7 was the weekend’s story; cringing to North Korea—and behind it, China—will be the story of the week ahead.

Anyone that still identifies as a Republican, including that fucker, is part of the problem.

I might omit 'part of'.

the absence of such high-level expertise could put him at a tactical disadvantage

otoh, Trump's inability to stick to any agreement he makes or position he takes, coupled with his willingness to lie or to say whatever he thinks someone else wants to hear, then renege on it later, means that whatever substance the negotiation appears to have achieved will be pure illusion - even if Trump signs his name to it.

Yeah, the trick to winning a negotiation with Trump seems to be being the first one to break the agreement in your own favor.

Gooooood moooouuurrrrninnnng!

Or is this just all an inner circle neo-cabal flailing around while the regular folks wait it out?

― Josh in Chicago

trump is the only person in the entire republican party any republican voter cares about or who has any power whatsoever, and though i don't want to attribute any ability to learn to the president whatsoever, i do rather suspect he is beginning to figure this out. i certainly can't imagine why anybody who wasn't a wholly unprincipled sycophant would be working for, or even defending, the president at this juncture.

Are these all just departments of one while the everyday government workers just sit on their hands and wait this shit out?

Pretty much

Besides recent appointees, does someone like Bolton have *any* allies in the government?

Nope

Does Pompeo? Does Trump?

Sadly, yes (Parts of CBP, ICE, some factions in DoD I'm sure)

Or is this just all an inner circle neo-cabal flailing around while the regular folks wait it out?

Yes

and yet for some reason wall st seems cool with all of this.

which supports my lol theory that while the market might not be rational, it is racist

seems about right. the market consists of people, who are both irrational and racist. since the only driver is greed, as long as their irrational racist choices make money, they are happy.

My friend said his dad voted for Trump for economic reasons, but he keeps explaining to him that you cannot separate that from the racist stuff. The result was that for several months his dad blocked his phone number.

What could possibly go wrong?

Whoa. This is sliding toward what we have all feared: Kim flatters Trump; no one’s around to warn Trump; T gives something important away, because he doesn’t understand the issues, bc he didn’t prepare and couldn’t care less about the US architecture in Asia. This is a bad idea https://t.co/PRQ80nLq2S

— Robert E Kelly (@Robert_E_Kelly) June 10, 2018

My friend said his dad voted for Trump for economic reasons, but he keeps explaining to him that you cannot separate that from the racist stuff. The result was that for several months his dad blocked his phone number.

― Josh in Chicago

particularly since there were never any rational economic reasons to vote for trump anyway!

everyone is an expert on the economy

Anyone who's not rooting for North Korea to further embarrass and outmaneuver Trump is a cop tbh

Cool strategy as long as it doesn’t end up in a war

Considering the meeting involves nuclear warheads I'm on team #noonegetsembarassedormad.

OTM. The thing is Trump has appointed the type of people to advise him who at the very least have entertained the idea of a military strike. It’s a “by any means necessary” type of situation to make sure that doesn’t happen. And it would be better if his desire to make this deal was motivated by pragmatism instead of narcissism.

Moron can’t even get Canada to be happy with his administration, I have no hope anything good will come out from that meeting.

Maybe Robert E Kelly should worry more about what his own kids are doing

I really feel like most of the people working for this administration who aren't ignorant grifters like Pruitt or Zinke or Carson are striving to hold down blood puke most of the time. But it can be hard to differentiate sycophants from believers in this town.

I just don't understand how, if it's/he's as bad as it seems, more ambivalent/ambiguous/seemingly not insanely ideologue folks like Rex and McMaster and Cohn and other exes haven't been more outspoken. They're so fucking coy and elliptical. It would help to have someone (other than Omarosa) come out of this fucking mess and confirm that yes, we are not going nuts, it's a total shitshow, and here are some specific examples.

I doubt that one of these people coming out will do more than simply confirming our suspicions.

Heck, these are not even suspicions anymore. We know what we are dealing with.

i'm not really sure how what you propose would help or what it would accomplish. there's plenty of evidence already out there that the administration is a total shitshow, with specific examples. this hasn't done a great deal to keep me from going nuts, truth be told.

kind of a wild example right here

very normal habit picked up in the process of doing normal legal things https://t.co/RlCNCfowUj

— Official Centrism (@pareene) June 10, 2018

Those fucking embroidered '45's on his cuffs...

he is 6

or 8. he's 6 to 8 years old.

also, don't mean to trash talk one of the victims here but you're a real piece of shit reginald young jr

One of his colleagues, Reginald Young Jr., who worked as a senior records management analyst, said that during over two decades of government service, he had never been asked to do such a thing.

“We had to endure this under the Trump administration,” Young said. “I’m looking at my director, and saying, ‘Are you guys serious?’ We’re making more than $60,000 a year, we need to be doing far more important things than this. It felt like the lowest form of work you can take on without having to empty the trash cans.”

ok, this is a little long but can we make entire excerpt the july thread title

Lartey said the papers he received included newspaper clips on which Trump had scribbled notes, or circled words; invitations; and letters from constituents or lawmakers on the Hill, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

“I had a letter from Schumer — he tore it up,” he said. “It was the craziest thing ever. He ripped papers into tiny pieces.”

Lartey did not work alone. He said his entire department was dedicated to the task of taping paper back together in the opening months of the Trump administration.

This to me reeks of the habit of a man very used to hiding his tracks.

Had a very dark thought today that our boi trump is assigned to devalue the US currency enough that Russia can swoop in and buy the eastern seaboard up with cash but that would be crazy right

:)

lmao

As an eastern property owner I welcome our new Russian overlords

A Canadian perspective on Trump's tantrum

i'm gonna arm myself like one of those Red Dawn kids

so deNiro said "f Trump" twice on the Tonys last night. Odds that there will be a response tweet?

inevitable

lmao Trump wants out of Singapore as soon as possible

this whole thing is just gonna be a dumb photo op isn't it

it depends what the "touch and feel" tell him

pros: it's a business-friendly police state
cons: full of foreigners

The root of Trump's tendency toward isolationism is that every country is weirdly full of foreigners. Where are all the Americans, Singapore? Sad!

what the fucking fuck at everything in that article

Lartey, 54, and Young, 48, were career government officials who worked together in records management until this spring, when both were abruptly terminated from their jobs. Both are now unemployed and still full of questions about why they were stripped of their badges with no explanation and marched off of the White House grounds by Secret Service.

Irene Porada, the head of human resources who personally terminated both men, did not respond to an email requesting comment. A White House spokesman also did not respond to a request for comment about the terminations.

Celebrating birthday, a bit early. pic.twitter.com/laVLNs7J2j

— Vivian Balakrishnan (@VivianBala) June 11, 2018

lmao they're literally throwing him a birthday party to keep him happy

nothing but respect for my president piss baby