US Politics, March 2018: Why do people leave the White House for good?

well goodnight USA, it was good while it lasted

Was it?

there were moments

I think we'll look back fondly on not having to scavenge for food

With Bolton there I'm less concerned about the USA than about the rest of the world TBH

I can't even be frightened anymore. Which isn't to undermine that these are shitty times, but mentally I was already dealing with heightened anxiety in the three years prior to the election and my brain got so overloaded that nothing scans anymore. Does make me take things less for granted

I also feel like the admin's cracks are showing more by the day which helps a little

I feel like cracks in our future as a planet are showing more by the day, which helps a little!

Here is the exact probability that Mattis and Dunford are going to listen to anything Bolton says: 0

Dow’s going to keep shitting itself though.

Xpost oh we are overdue for an extinction level event

does bolton need to be confirmed by the senate?

no

National security adviser is a presidential appointee

Well they all are

Rather, the entire national security council serves the president without the advice or consent of the senate.

pic.twitter.com/O8YLODg3QS

— Ali (@Ali_Kourani) March 22, 2018

John Bolton said the meeting between Trump and Kim Jung Un should be brief, consisting of Trump delivering an ultimatum to North Korea

https://t.co/f901iPWXvk

EXCLUSIVE: "DNC hacker" Guccifer 2.0 was, in fact, an officer of Russia's military intelligence directorate https://t.co/aydK9i4FK5

— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) March 22, 2018

https://i.imgur.com/KR8BlPG.jpg

The irony is Mike Flynn is probably as bad as or worse than Bolton but we never got to find out.

I was gonna say

The hilarious image of Bolton as Geppetto is gonna totally sustain me through the next couple decades' worth of wholly unnecessary and unjust war which we'll soon find ourselves entrenched in. I mean, get a load of that 'stache, guys!!!!!!!!!

"next couple decades"

at least flynn could be bought

xposyt Yeah, I'm getting a little anachronistic there. I keep forgetting that we're itching to drop a few of the big ones now and get this whole 'existing' shit over with already.

at least flynn could be bought

― mookieproof, Thursday, March 22, 2018

yes Bolton has intellect and convictions, see

I've read more than my share of Cold War histories in which the noisome hawk was just being intemperate for the sake of the government position that will allow him to inject slightly tempered views, but Donald Trump is not your average autocrat.

Bolton's a Tojo with a walrus moustache.

How are some of these mofos not dead yet.

March 22, 2018 7:56 PM

by Rich Lowry

All his critics call him a neo-con, but he’s a hard-headed realist. The Twitter and cable-TV mob is saying he’s a Fox News analyst, as if that were the sum total of what he’s about, when, of course, he has extensive diplomatic and governmental experience. He is shrewd, knowledgeable, and always speaks his mind. He shares most of President Trump’s instincts, while knowing how government works and having a philosophical true North. He will serve this most difficult White House well.

Here is the exact probability that Mattis and Dunford are going to listen to anything Bolton says: 0
Dow’s going to keep shitting itself though.
― El Tomboto, Thursday, March 22, 2018 6:54 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This is calming but I'm not sure I get it...I mean they don't have to listen to at all to Bolton, but they'll be listening to our very suggestible president

*at all to*

xxpost The argument is that he shares Trump's instincts and isn't completely inept? Cool, so we're definitely all dead then.

Hadrian, yes, the worry I have is that the presence of this particular civilian, replacing that particular general in this role, actually raises the possibility of something pretty terrible - but not unilateral war.

I see, and yeah I imagine the SecDef is some kind of check on impulsivity. But little doubt now that we'll be maneuvering at least in the direction of a new war.

but but you guys he promised to not start a new war that's really comforting right

tbf the korean war never really ended

hillary was the "War Candidate" iirc

yup. next person who says she's a warmonger and they're the same can go fuck themselves sideways. two times.

In an interview, Bolton discussed his comment in the reunion book, explaining that he decided to avoid service in Vietnam because "by the time I was about to graduate in 1970, it was clear to me that opponents of the Vietnam War had made it certain we could not prevail, and that I had no great interest in going there to have Teddy Kennedy give it back to the people I might die to take it away from."

right in the ol' Dolchstoßlegende

https://media.giphy.com/media/l0ExdANi3pXqJs0NO/giphy.gif

Trump even floated the idea of appointing Bolton during the campaign (in addition to specifically promising to kill the family members of suspected terrorists). Significant overlap between people who said at the time they were worried about “warmongering” from the candidate who wanted to keep the Iran deal and people who now defensively scoff at the idea that they were tricked by propaganda.

I kinda rate Bolton's over-under about the same as The Mooch to be completely honest, even with less people around to actively undermine him.

There’s an interesting thread I can’t link that makes him sound potentially less likely to flame out like Mooch etc @antwier: “warmongering and rejection of diplomacy are scary. But so is his knowledge of paper and process. He knows just how many decisions the gov’t. makes. He knows how to manipulate meeting scheduling to push his agenda. He knows who to bully to get the result he wants. 1/x”

he managed to hang on as ambassador to the UN for about 15 months, he can probably make it at least 10 days

Maybe a bus just doesn't see the traffic signal when he's going to Sizzler one night

Maybe a rogue patriot takes a Manic Panic applicator to that upper lip and robs his 'stache of its power with an errant streak of Blue Lightning.

we’re in for a wild mercury retrograde

A little something to arch your eyebrow at

The US Atty for the Southern District of NY is announcing a cyber crime enforcement action at Main Justice with DAG Rod Rosenstein, as well as the Deputy Director of FBI, the NY ADIC & an Assis. Secy from Treasury tomorrow. This lineup looks like something major is brewing. pic.twitter.com/NqAjtKO529

— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) March 23, 2018

Twitter is now illegal

Thank god

next person who says she's a warmonger and they're the same can go fuck themselves sideways. two times.

We'll never know the first, shall we? and no one i know ever said the second. So let's retire this particular "litigation" / fairy story.

yes pls retire