no, i didn't know that the June 2019 US Politics thread was nasty

His 'you're welcome, 150 people I chose not to kill today' shit is a total power play.

it's a refreshing contrast to his "only 64 people died in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria" stance

lost count of the civilian deaths caused by coalition forces over last few years anyway

however transparently disingenuous, the president breaking protocol by making pentagon death spec public and "reasoning" about disproportion would make for a great (if accidental) precedent

he should be asked next time: how many Iranians are gonna die?

even the vulnerable democrats in districts that voted for trump in 2016 (like katie porter in SoCal) are starting to turn toward impeachment. i think part of pelosi's plan (whether it makes sense or not) is to appear like she was forced to impeach by her party, rather than forcing her party to impeach. if that's the case, she appears to be well on her way

My thinking until now

yeah I had hoping for that too, now I'm doubting it

something very weird is going on with all of this

and you don't know what it is

do you

Mr jones blah blah

This brinksmanship with iran was completely avoidable.

with something stupid and insane coming from the WH daily we have to remember there are still children being held in deplorable conditions

https://www.apnews.com/46da2dbe04f54adbb875cfbc06bbc615

I genuinely believe Trump may want to avoid war with Iran and realizes he's been suckered into this situation by Bolton and friends, but he's so far out of his depth that he doesn't have any clue what to do to dig himself out of it. I'm not particularly optimistic about any of this, but there was a point when things were starting to look scary with North Korea, and they were able to back down from that without a major disaster.

I’m praying for that

I don’t understand why he hired john fucking bolton if he really wanted to avoid war.

I'm guilty of it too, but psychoanalyzing this henna-haired goose shit elevates him to the level of a normal human being with neuroses. I'm content with thinking, "Before taking a post-KFC dump last night, he decided he didn't wanna go to war anymore."

http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/06/president-donald-trump-faces-new-rape-accusation.html

When Carroll meets Donald Trump in Bergdorf Goodman, the encounter starts as a friendly one. Trump recognizes her as “that advice lady”; Carroll recognizes him as “that real-estate tycoon.” Trump tells Carroll that he’s there to buy a gift for “a girl,” and though we don’t learn the identity of this mystery woman, Carroll places the ensuing incident in late 1995 or early 1996, during which time Trump was married to Marla Maples. When Trump asks Carroll to advise him on what to buy, she agrees, and the two eventually make their way to the lingerie section. Trump suggests a lace bodysuit and encourages Carroll to try it on; she, deflecting, jokingly suggests that he try it on instead. After they reach the dressing rooms, events turn violent. In Carroll’s account, Trump shoves her against a wall inside a dressing room, pulls down her tights, and, “forcing his fingers around my private area, thrusts his penis halfway — or completely, I’m not certain — inside me.”

Carroll, 75, is a venerated Elle advice columnist. At the time of the attack, she was well known in her own right. A frequent feature writer for magazines like Playboy and Esquire, she had her own television show on America’s Talking, the precursor to MSNBC. Trump had his own record. By the time of his alleged assault on Carroll, Trump’s ex-wife, Ivana, had already claimed that Trump violated her during their marriage. (Ivana recanted the claim after Trump launched his campaign for the presidency.) Further news reports, published in 2016, place at least four other alleged sexual-assault claims, made by Kristin Anderson, Jill Harth, Cathy Heller, and Temple Taggart McDowell, in the years before and during the time period of Carroll’s account.

Carroll is now at least the 16th woman to accuse Donald Trump of sexual misconduct and the 14th to accuse Moonves of similar offenses.

He’s a monster

he hired bolton to piss off the libs

Reading that cover story

full account from Carroll here; perhaps obvious warning that this recounting of multiple rapes and assaults is terrible reading
https://www.thecut.com/2019/06/donald-trump-assault-e-jean-carroll-other-hideous-men.html

It’s an excerpt of an upcoming book called “what do we need men for?” To her this attack is an example of a broader phenomenon. Certainly true, it’s her story to tell not mine, but i think this will weaken the public impact of the accusation, which is corroborated by multiple people. Which sucks because america needs to reckon with the fact that the president is a rapist.

He’s been accused before, in a formal court document, and his ex wife never fully recanted the accusation, just changed how she would characterize it. He is a sexual predator.

He hired Bolton because he has no idea who to hire, what his positions and goals actually are, how to achieve anything, etc.

ultimately I don't think war is avoidable with these people in charge BUT I can't remember an american president coming out and explaining that he refrained from retaliation by citing a relatively small (by u.s. warmongering standards) number of brown ppl who would die as a consequence

am I crazy or is this....somehow....refreshing?

― d'ILM for Murder (Hadrian VIII), Friday, June 21, 2019 12:52 PM (two hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this was truly remarkable I agree

Trump's single redeeming quality may be his perhaps inadvertent distaste for actually following through on his trash talk and going to war, which may be bc he's a bullying businessman and con artist and racist at heart and not (as yet!) a professional warmongering mercenary like some of the dudes in his employ (and in the employ of previous admins)

i mean this is a small sample size we're dealing with here, he may simply be doing it less out of distaste for blood and more bc he's thinking it's strategic.

He’s teasing catastrophe so he can pull back and get credit for using restraint. It’s a form of torturing the american people, and the iranian people

No credit for him

agree. this is in retaliation for a downed drone? his casually informing us that he almost authorized a dangerous, out-of-proportion response but decided to pull back at the last minute sounds super reckless to me

Yeah it's like a dude t-boned your Beemer and you threaten to blow up his neighborhood.

look it's completely insane and manipulative and there's not an ounce of decency in his *not* bombing....but under his predecessor (in an imaginary world where there wasn't a nuke deal in place) we probably would have already bombed a bunch of Iranian assets and denied/obfuscated the death count

my guess is that he genuinely sees himself as the good guy and can't cope with the idea of being personally responsible for having someone killed. Totally good with producing murderous policies/having shadowy sources "deal with the problem," just not inured in his shriveled soul to the realpolitik of being a murderer personally and knowing it. It's a redeeming quality you'd assume that would be a core human principle but one never knows with this guy

xp decency peaceful intent

Does he not involve himself in the drone strike / kill list in the way Obama did?

who knows, if it's in the daily briefing probably not

my guess is that he genuinely sees himself as the good guy and can't cope with the idea of being personally responsible for having someone killed.

Didn’t we just read an account of him raping someone?

He's getting a thrill playing God. And part of that thrill is by informing everyone of the mercy he showed with his God powers. This time he chose not to kill, next time who knows. If even 1 American is """killed by Iran"""...
Giving God powers to 1 person who's only qualification is "winning" an election is a ridiculous thing to exist in 21st century.

xp i would guess he willfully avoids that stuff out of cowardice except in piques of "I'M IN CHARGE" since no one in the military want him anywhere near the machinery

where is the contradiction in someone committing an atrocious act and still seeing themselves as a good guy?

these types of people are not going around thinking they're villains

You did, Tree. But he remembers how she totally wanted it because cmon who wouldn't.

I think he is a sadist and doesn’t need to “tell himself hems a good person” like you or i would

Escalating tensions, then pulling back, relishing the power he has over life and death—he’s a kid burning ants with a magnifyying glass.

in the audio clips he says "I didn't like it," and that's always the key word.

Yes

He’s a vile person. Look across his life—he enjoys causing suffering

Speaking of eternal suffering

pic.twitter.com/JDS4zUXXJG

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 21, 2019

i'm not stupid enough to believe that Trump is incapable of being a war criminal (he already has committed a million human rights violations after all) but he may simply not want to deal with a war. it could be distaste, but then again of course it could also be that he doesn't want to have to deal with the complexities of geopolitics. i'm sure it's tough enough for his brain to handle daily briefings on new nicknames for Dem opponents.

Trump 2036 lol