US Politics April 2019 Thread: 'I find that pretty hard to believe'

what's the condition of the jacket?

that information is for members only

President Trump last week privately urged Kevin McAleenan, the border enforcement official he was about to name as acting secretary of homeland security, to close the southwestern border to migrants despite having just said publicly that he was delaying a decision on the step for a year, according to three people briefed about the conversation.
It was not clear what Mr. Trump meant by his request or his additional comment to Mr. McAleenan that he would pardon him if he encountered any legal problems as a result of taking the action.

Ugh, get this fucker out of office, make it stop

So basically he must have urged Nielsen to do it, fired her, then immediately urged her replacement to do it.

This presidency is the world's longest 'Pull My Finger' joke...

Just out: The USA has the absolute legal right to have apprehended illegal immigrants transferred to Sanctuary Cities. We hereby demand that they be taken care of at the highest level, especially by the State of California, which is well known or its poor management & high taxes!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 14, 2019

I heard it pointed out that Sanctuary cities had become Sanctuary Cities largely because they were the main destinations that people tended to aim for once they had managed to get into the US. So tactic seems to be a bit pointless in making sure taht was where they were sent.
Also that migrants had the freedom of movement once they had arrived in the US so they weren't forced to stay where they were put.

we hereby demand

From the generally power-worshipping Axios:

President Trump is embracing increasingly extreme immigration ideas, in part because he is furious at his inability to get instant border results through executive fiat, top officials tell Axios.

Why it matters: Trump is drawn to maximalist, click-your-fingers ideas that can be legally dubious or outright illegal.

What's happening: After reporters uncovered a heated internal administration debate, Trump tweeted: "Due to the fact that Democrats are unwilling to change our very dangerous immigration laws, we are indeed, as reported, giving strong considerations to placing Illegal Immigrants in Sanctuary Cities." "Sanctuary cities" shield migrants, limiting cooperation with deportation.

Be smart: This is not a plan. It's a Trump desire — and wishing it to happen won’t make it so.

Between the lines:

Reflecting Trump's behind-the-scenes rage, a senior White House official said: "This was one of the more unsurprising tweets ever."

The senior White House official acknowledged: "It's not going to happen because ICE [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] can't do it. They don't have the cash and they can't ask for federal funds to do that."

...

The bottom line: Immigration lawyers tell Axios that in addition to there not being funds for this, there would be huge liabilities if anyone got hurt while being transferred.

Also, Trump would be essentially giving immigrants a free ride to places many of them would prefer to be anyway.

l'etat c'est moron

Is all of this real? I just woke up.

wtf

Think about when you were six and got mad at your folks and threatened to run away, and remember how six-year-old you eventually grasped some nascent conception of the potential consequences of following through on your threat and begrudgingly remained with the family who refused to let you stay up past your bedtime. Our president lacks that capacity, and he's mad at his folks all the goddamn time.

it's weird how often he slips into cosplay

this time he's cosplaying a tv legal guru (tv - "just in: ", legal guru - "absolute legal right, "hereby")

basically he misses Jeanine Pirro

I don't even know where he is on the lawful/neutral/chaotic - good/neutral/evil scale anymore :(

he is chaotic evil, and he was born that way

otm

.@presssec Sarah Sanders tells Fox News’ Chris Wallace “frankly, Chris, I don’t think Congress — particularly not this group of congressmen and women — are smart enough to look through the thousands of pages that I would assume that President Trump’s taxes will be.”

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) April 14, 2019

Sarah Huckabee: BA in Comms/PoliSci from Ouachita Baptist University, currently ranked #171 in National Liberal Arts Colleges by U.S. News & World Report.

I don't know about 'born' but, like his own children, he was incubated in such a stew of chaotic evil that the deck was stacked against his turning out any other way.

everyone in the white house is 5 years old

xp as high as #171?

tbf, she didn't say she would be either.

we’re all born chaotic evil.

What's going on with Rosenstein. is he simply a turncoat or has he been operating from unexpected motivation from the start.

dunno about him but this is when i start to imagine the copilots and flight crew are trying to arrange the most “survivable” jumbo jet crash they can, which has made for some weird positioning.

then i remember occam, and i’m back to just, “these ppl are some assholes.”

.@IlhanMN’s office has seen “off the charts” increase in death threats since Trump’s tweet; she already was receiving about one a day

— Jeff Stein (@JStein_WaPo) April 15, 2019

sure am glad the Dems spent a whole week being angry with her for suggesting AIPAC had a lot of influence in US Politics

cool

Before Nancy, who has lost all control of Congress and is getting nothing done, decides to defend her leader, Rep. Omar, she should look at the anti-Semitic, anti-Israel and ungrateful U.S. HATE statements Omar has made. She is out of control, except for her control of Nancy!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 15, 2019

can't quite parse what you're trying to say here though, maybe delete and try again

uh

THEY SPIED ON MY CAMPAIGN (We will never forget)!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 15, 2019

this is why there is no political downside at all for pelosi to stand up for omar--trump is gonna use omar as a brush to attack her anyway. but i guess the donor is king

xp

hmmm idk did you consult David Frum before you came up with that take

"They Spied On My Campaign (We Will Never Forget)"

hmmm idk did you consult David Frum before you came up with that take

― Simon H., Monday, April 15, 2019 9:27 AM (five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i only subscribe to frum's newsletter for the recipes

since leaving the Bush administration Frum likes craft beer iirc

If it’s any day of the week and any time of day, @ewarren has a new policy rollout https://t.co/qkyKwkbFnx

— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) April 15, 2019

The Atlantic reports:

At the meals in the small dining room off the Oval Office, Trump keeps a big-screen TV tuned to cable news. Aides who have walked in have seen Trump yelling at the TV as he sits with Pence and their deputies over plates of chicken and cheeseburgers.

When he sees something on the screen that he dislikes, Trump on occasion will interrupt the lunch and summon aides to discuss a response, people familiar with the lunches said.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/04/how-key-aides-have-survived-trump-white-house/587038/

oh cool. another one of those articles.

this one is more like "Pence is real-life Mr Smithers" sandwiched between brief profiles of Miller and Conway, not that I'm suggesting you read it

Mueller Report comin' Thursday

[redacted] [redacted] coming Thursday

It's gonna be one long black stripe

trump's dumps was a good song

http://arteri.search-art.asia/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/shandy-black-page.jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8YuJ8GOtl8U/UvPw_PnBx8I/AAAAAAAAA_M/JJ65pKa2gyc/s1600/Frank+zappa+black+page.jpg

https://i.redd.it/ydl1kr65ad221.jpg

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/science/2018/07/08/TELEMMGLPICT000168753591_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bqj7_LGHWhWFZy-JC1sdVNlMlDWjNqc2Lt9DTi8J-FvKU.jpeg?imwidth=450

Really wish a team of carpenters would wait for Trump to take his daily trump then build walls around the bathroom, sealing him in the walls forever

Remember when this happened?

http://thebullelephant.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/dons-johns-tape.jpg

Pretty much set the stage for the subsequent few years.

trump's dumps was a good song

― Fictitious Business Name: (Sufjan Grafton), Monday, April 15, 2019 11:34 AM (four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Trump's dumps are the messengers of your doom and your destruction

Is that a lyric?

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-W_K-YaIn3e4/UqeJS7HQ7pI/AAAAAAAADM4/D-_XWnjGtsc/s1600/Book+Format+1.png