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

If Trump were offered the opportunity to flip, I have no doubt he'd jump at the chance to bury every single person in his orbit with his imperfect understanding of what's been transpiring around him. He'd even send Jared and his sons up the river (no one touches Ivanka but Donald, and then only inappropriately).

In an attempt to clarify my position: A number of people in and related to the Trump administration undoubtedly directly colluded with Russia. Trump is a dumb fuck whose level of personal involvement in Russian collusion is likely insubstantial and incidental. Trump has unquestionably obstructed the investigation into Russian collusion because he's a dumb fuck who overestimates his level of involvement and, in customary Trump fashion, has subsequently caused more potential problems for himself than if he'd just sat back and let the investigation snare the major players. It's like burning down the 7-11 because you think you're gonna do ten to twenty for the pack of gum you shoplifted.

well that's the question, *how much* do we know already? because even with that meeting in Trump Tower, it was like..."oh it was just the four of us"...then every single day it's revealed that more and more people attended the meeting, while Trump himself went from not knowing about it to absolutely knowing about it and writing Jr.'s public statement. even when they're admitting their crimes they *still* try to obstruct and mislead at every turn.

xp to Josh

NRA main dude being a scumbag on TV right now

Usually it works the other way around. Investigations usually gather and seek evidence that leads to a conclusion. In this case, we pretty much know what was up, we know what they were after.

the Columbo presidency

OL if by "insubstantial and incidental" you mean that he never expected that by laundering money for a Russian crime syndicate he would one day have to submit to blackmail and compromise national security, I get that.

Yeah, basically. As a private citizen he's been criminally involved with and is suuuuuper compromised by Russia, no doubt. I'm just not convinced that he was a guiding hand in whatever Russian schemes were orchestrated by people in and around his campaign/administration.

Shady business deals? Sure. That's his stock in trade. High-level political conspiracy? Reply hazy.

Counterpoint: he is corrupt as fuck and knows it. Those 13 indictments, you think over the course of the last several months he didn't have a single person in the intelligence world let him know that kind of Investigation was in the works? He had to have known, or at least had to have been told, an outcome like that was likely, not least because of how much it has been hammered home by the entire intelligence community that Russian interference was a thing. We wonder how much Mueller and his team know, we also have to wonder how much Trump and his team know.

he doesn't have to be a super genius to be a secretive liar who values self-preservation above all else.

This can't be said enough. Stupidity is not mutually exclusive to criminal savvy.

Otherwise his strongest defense is that his political naivete precluded him from *planning* that high-level political conspiracy, at a minimum he most certainly knowingly participated in it.

Perhaps he just believed that if the president does it it's not illegal

no doubt that's where we're heading

again

surely occam's razor suggests that trump is working overtime...

okay i admit you've got me there

elite media figures are prone to underplaying 2scoops' conspiracy because they can't maintain that he's 1) stupid and 2) he's fooled everyone this long. this is the umpteenth sequel to the emperor's new clothes. it's kind of like how jar jar's father paying harvard $2 million to admit his son is one of many nepotistic data points that somehow never impact the professional advantages elite media figures (and their parents and children) enjoy by educational proximity to harvard etc, and doing anything about the inequality that makes the whole american engine run would require too much material and existential sacrifice on their part vis-a-vis their elite self-images

The common denominator to the denial right and left is humiliation. On the one hand it's obv humiliating to supporters and enablers of Trump who find themselves taken out in the riptide, on the other it's humiliating to a historically astute left conditioned to punching up. When you've honed your chops outflanking them on details, closing their loopholes, smuggling in nuance, etc., getting punked by a giant stupid baby is not a good feeling.

^says "berniebro"

reggie otm

Shady business deals? Sure. That's his stock in trade. High-level political conspiracy? Reply hazy.

― Jock Totty's Monocle (Old Lunch), Thursday, February 22, 2018 3:48 PM (twenty-eight minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

pretty sure his up to his eyeballs in laundering dirty russian money and hes terrified at the prospect that mueller's mandate will lead him there. he's said as much in public.

Donald Trump has warned his special counsel from looking into his family's finances beyond the scope of his investigation into Russian interference in last year's election.

In an interview with The New York Times, the US President was asked if Robert Mueller would be crossing a red line by investigating his family finances.

"I would say yes," Mr Trump replied.

However, the President would not be drawn on what he would do about it. “I think that’s a violation. Look, this is about Russia," he said.

yup i.e. tax returns

"This investigation is about whether I hacked people to death and froze their body parts. There is no reason investigators should violate my privacy by looking in my freezer."

Also if the Russia probe unearths bad acts stemming from shady finances its a double strike at the core of his being - questioning the legitimacy of his 'victory' and his personal wealth at the same time.

https://www.axios.com/newsletters/axios-pro-rata-59cc22d6-c7ec-4450-bfaa-19dcbf033a13.html

What has the new tax bill done so far? Well, between Jan. 1 and Feb. 20, 113 companies announced stock buybacks totaling $173 billion, the highest level ever at this point in the year, according to Birinyi Associates' Jeffrey Rubin, reports Axios's Zach Basu.

43 companies announced buybacks of more than $500 million, including Cisco, Wells Fargo, PepsiCo, Amgen, AbbVie, and Alphabet.
Meanwhile, in health care: Nine drug companies are spending a combined $50 billion on new share buyback programs, according to Axios's Bob Herman, who also notes that the "money is enriching hedge funds, other Wall Street investors and top drug company executives, but it isn't necessarily helping patients."

we need to tax the shit out of the rich in this country and redistribute wealth more equitably. everything else is just theater

Trump is someone who as a consequence of his inherited financial resources and business position has spent nearly his entire life being able to do much of what he wants and seeking to leverage his power to get the rest. He regards the law among other systems as mere obstacles to be navigated or games to be played with the assistance of those more learned than he cares to be or is capable of being. His clear involvement in one or more conspiracies against the country and efforts to obstruct the investigation of same reflect his disregard for the law and belief that the power of the presidency can be leveraged to overcome its application.

his disregard reflects a general disdain among our ruling classes for "the system" which is designed to keep the peasants down and them in power, prestige, and luxury. trump is just more blatant about it than most of his class is

huh?

huh what?

The gall of that NRA monster to appear on the townhall last night and then turn into a werewolf in public at CPAC. These campaign ads write themselves. At this point it's basically "The GOP: Wrong On Everything."

huh what?

― reggie (qualmsley), Thursday, February 22, 2018 5:10 PM (two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

For one thing, your post appears internally inconsistent. You assert first that the ruling classes disdain a system that you assert second is designed for their own benefit.

do johns respect prostitutes?

Qualmsley, ok that makes more sense. My initial reaction was the same as Moo's: why would you disdain a system set up for your benefit?

If you just mean "rich folks flout laws," well duh.

Trump is a dumb fuck whose level of personal involvement in Russian collusion is likely insubstantial and incidental.

Dumb fuck, yes. But it beggars belief that his campaign managers, immediate family members, or closest advisors, did not keep him moderately informed about their activities and never sought his specific permission to continue down that path. In his capacity as the highest officer of both his campaign and now of his administration, his awareness of the connection between foreign agents and the people who reported directly to him would constitute important and substantial complicity in such connections.

You have to assume such awareness and complicity, even if he took a casual view of it, like the dumb fuck he is.

Is there a better explanation for the decision not to impose the sanctions congress voted for than the Russian government possibly has something on him? Also Jared’s attempt to set up the secret back channel.

do johns respect prostitutes?

― reggie (qualmsley), Thursday, February 22, 2018 5:17 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Your analogy is inapposite. Assuming arguendo that prostitution is a system designed for the benefit of "johns," it's the prostitutes, not the system, that the "johns" disdain.

Jesus fuck.

Just in from @rdevro: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will remove "nation of immigrants" from mission statement https://t.co/cfWjahgYOe

— Roger D. Hodge (@RogerDHodge) February 22, 2018

Ein Volk, ein reich, ein Trump

So Trump really said that if the schools were armed/more safer, the kids wouldn't go into school shooting, and "I think that would solve your problem".. No words.

they'll just go somewhere else to murder a bunch of people?

Trump is now endorsing bonuses for teachers who get gun training.

I have never wished a grievous prolapse on anyone before but I guess there's a first time for everything.

would love to see a poll on how teachers feel about that

"Gun laws don't work because criminals can easily find ways around them".

I'm not even a """"criminal""" but after 10 seconds thought: pull fire alarm, find spot where I can unleash sniper fire on a gaggle of students/armed faculty. Military units have trouble neutralizing that sort of threat, you think some teachers with pistols are going to take out such a shooter before he can kill dozens or more?

JUST IN: Trump suggests bonuses for teachers who carry guns https://t.co/G38GBJOBow pic.twitter.com/hWfzACtdlY

— The Hill (@thehill) February 22, 2018

What a difference millions of donated dollars make. pic.twitter.com/lfPTYKCHHd

— Apodyopsis (@Moyamal) February 22, 2018

it's not the money

that guardian piece upthread was predictably maddening, some guy quotes as saying 'no school shooter is gonna pull anything when they know they're gonna get their head blown off' like that doesn't happen 99 percent of the time these things unfold

Facebook is setting up a booth in the CPAC exhibit hall.

Two attendees just told me they saw proof on Facebook this morning that the Parkland students are crisis actors. Facebook reps here told me they’re not going to talk about that. pic.twitter.com/vJCYLGfkBA

— Kira Lerner (@kira_lerner) February 22, 2018

.@facebook just emailed me a statement on their CPAC presence.

"Facebook routinely participates in events hosted by organizations across the political spectrum." pic.twitter.com/b1NYAOci8k

— Kira Lerner (@kira_lerner) February 22, 2018

Just in from @rdevro: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will remove "nation of immigrants" from mission statement https://t.co/cfWjahgYOe

— Roger D. Hodge (@RogerDHodge) February 22, 2018

This probably goes back to the descriptive/prescriptive split, but, uh, how much do settler colonialists count as “immigrants”?