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

Also, worth considering that Trump staff turnaround means loss of momentum, and none of these dudes are machiavellian evil geniuses like Rumsfeld or Cheney. These are short-range b-list grifters.

thank you aimless and josh, close to losing it at work and, i dunno, buying a one way ticket to some exotic place i've never been and fucking off all day

I'm just worried Trump's gonna start a war before an election because it worked for GWB before.. he's dumb enough to think it'll work for him too.
― officer sonny bonds, lytton pd (mayor jingleberries), Friday, March 23, 2018 12:46 PM (three minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

the problem is that it probably will "work"

GT trust your heart GTFO, just don't go to one of the exotic places we're gonna erase

(sorry I do not share in this optimism)

I prefer not to work myself into a tizzy over Bolton, yet. We are now seven months from an election. Congressional self-preservation instincts will start working overtime fairly soon. That should help.

― A is for (Aimless), Friday, March 23, 2018 11:44 AM (three minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

The assumption of the existence or resurgence of pre-Trump norms basically offers me zero comfort at this point. Like, yes, please, elected officials, surprise the hell out of me and shut my mouth. But I don't assume that anything is broadly predictable anymore. In that earlier era, I would've thought that GOP support would've melted off of Trump like a delicious chocolate coating in a rainstorm after it became clear that his endorsement was helping special election candidates turf out, but who even knows anymore. The tribe is all, come hell or high water.

hey we can all relax

Trump and Bolton have been discussing for weeks how he could replace McMaster. According to what a source familiar with those negotiations told me, Bolton promised Trump "he wouldn't start any wars" if he selected him as the new national security adviser.

— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) March 22, 2018

i think the major difference is that the Iraq War came in the wake of 9/11 and was blatantly but effectively hitched to the war against the Taliban and the fact that we'd been attacked. not by Iraq but hey who's counting???

right now we don't have a pretext for war and I doubt even right wingers deep down sincerely feel threatened by NK.

yeah, he's not gonna start any wars, he's gonna stop them!

by nuking every living thing on the face of the earth

i'm not saying that would prevent Trump from trying something stupid but i just don't think it would be nearly as effective w/r/t elections.

will Boltstache be going to the big summit with Kim (that may never happen)?

it has been entirely too long since I've updated this and I'm sure I'm missing some folks. as always, ratings are subjective and open to revision. sound off in the comments with suggested additions/edits pic.twitter.com/DIPoYmWdcK

— Jon Green (@_Jon_Green) March 23, 2018

I really don't think war on the Korean peninsula is going to happen, but the president is panicked and has autonomous war powers and Bolton a decades-long priapism for bombing Iran, they will cook up a pretext that will make that Nigerian yellowcake look watertight

mattis gets an 'ugh fine' from me tbh

maybe the reason Trump thinks stealth jets are invisible is cos he played a lot of Command and Conquer in the 90s

Iran is rather cozied up to Russia atm, based on an alliance of convenience in Syria. If Putin called Trump and warned him off bombing Iran, Trump would probably oblige.

good point

I don't think Trump is panicked, but/because I think he is profoundly ignorant, and I also think he's a conviction-free coward. So I expect very little in the way of dramatic action on any front, domestic or foreign, until he gets, er, convicted.

The (last) Iraq War was two years after 9/11 and widely protested about beforehand. Still happened.

xp Aimless I guess one question is whether or not Putin will release Trump before November, the brazenness of these poisonings and his public taunting makes me wonder if he knows the jig is almost up and is slowly feeding Trump to the wolves

so nice to have a manchurian candidate

The most straightforward explanation for the Trump camp’s overtures towards Russia, the meeting with the UAE and Blackwater in the Seychelles, etc is arguably that they wanted a conduit to try to get Putin on board with an attack on Iran, which was rebuffed.

interesting, and doesn't seem mutually exclusive to a second occam's razor that says Russia knows exactly which money Trump org laundered and wants Exon-Rosneft resurrected

hey we can all relax

― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Friday, March 23, 2018 4:56 PM (twenty-four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/03/bolton-denies-promising-trump-he-wouldnt-start-any-wars.html

xp *Exxon*

xpost "I had to fire Bolton because he lied to me about not starting any wars. In his place, Eric Trump will now be NSA adviser."

He signed the bill.

does bolton have any standout qualities OTHER than being the guy who pushes hard for pre-emptive strikes and invasions? why else would you hire him?

CBS News reports:

President Trump is expected to sign the omnibus spending bill he threatened to veto only hours earlier, congressional and administration sources tell CBS News chief White House correspondent Major Garrett. Mr. Trump is expected to announce that in a last-minute “news conference” he announced for 1 p.m.

Mr. Trump shocked Washington Friday morning when he – against every indication from himself and his staff — said he is considering vetoing the bill the Senate passed overnight.

Mr. Trump announced the “news conference” after 12:30 p.m. Friday, sending confused communications staffers scrambling. The White House soon clarified that Mr. Trump would have a press availability to take place of the White House briefing, which was scheduled for 1 p.m.

lol good posturing there, Trumpechav

CNN is reporting Trump’s new attorney for Mueller work is no longer convinced he is the right person for the job after a meeting yesterday. My god.

— Adam Parkhomenko (@AdamParkhomenko) March 23, 2018

such a strong case, though

President Donald Trump begrudgingly signed the spending bill Congress passed this week, but he swore that he would never sign something like it again.

“I will never sign another bill like this again,” he said at press availability scheduled at the last minute Friday afternoon.

Trump said that he was only signing the massive spending bill because he wanted to ensure that the military has proper funding and expressed frustration that Democrats were able to secure funding for programs they favor.

xp wait is that referring to DiGenova?

love too have an absentee president who just lets both sides lard up the budget with whatever they want. this might actually be good though?

easy for him to get around that pledge, though, as next year's bill will have a different year and probably the text will be a little different. also trump will have changed at a cellular level so it won't really be "him" who signs the next bill, etc

xxp: yep

https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/23/politics/digenova-role-trump-legal-team/index.html

“I will never sign another bill like this again,” he said at press availability scheduled at the last minute Friday afternoon.

He could be more right than he even knows.

Trump’s new attorney for Mueller work is no longer convinced he is the right person for the job

DiGenova got his first detailed briefing and found out what the job really was.

That is just amazing.

Oh HERE was a great detail from earlier

RIGHT NOW: WH advance staffer rushes into press office: “Does anyone know how to make (stuff) bigger on the printer?”

— Peter Alexander (@PeterAlexander) March 23, 2018

“I will never sign another bill like this again,” he said at press availability scheduled at the last minute Friday afternoon.

i mean this is the most amazing fake tough guy move -- drawing a line in the sand while concurrently backing down just as the other guy steps over it.

lmao he sounds like me trying to parent my 3-year old, "this is THE LAST TIME I *EVER* let you eat an entire ice cream cone, so just don't ask..."

"i will never do this again", i say, just before playing edward 40-hands again

Mr. Trump shocked Washington Friday morning

This is only possible when you have expectations beyond 'will invariably behave like a dipshit'.

WH advance staffer rushes into press office: “Does anyone know how to make (stuff) bigger on the printer?”

tbqh if not for my rigid morals i could work there

RIGHT NOW: WH advance staffer rushes into press office: “Does anyone know how to make (stuff) bigger on the printer?”

— Peter Alexander (@PeterAlexander) March 23, 2018

this is funny on its face but is there a subtext i'm missing

someone print the subtext bigger pls

it was a picture of trump's dick

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qsoYm16IPZk/S_JxHoE-N-I/AAAAAAAABD8/YHavf0585QQ/s1600/100_8348.JPG