The Trump Presidency – 2016

[AlexB]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

All three are complete nutjobs with IQs below freezing and being quite literally worse than useless since they haven't been put away for their batshittiness?

I mean, that's pretty much plenty.

Wow.

Support Trump all you like, hate a sportsman all you want, but you’re more intelligent than this. Opening up a school for at-risk students immediately means he’s not useless, and has a depth and altruism that most sportsmen don’t.

If Trump is able to make people like Jon, who I almost always strongly disagree with but had always credited as being very intelligent, blindly repeat everything he says, the situation is worse than I thought

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by AlexB

Wow.

Support Trump all you like, hate a sportsman all you want, but you’re more intelligent than this. Opening up a school for at-risk students immediately means he’s not useless, and has a depth and altruism that most sportsmen don’t.

If Trump is able to make people like Jon, who I almost always strongly disagree with but had always credited as being very intelligent, blindly repeat everything he says, the situation is worse than I thought

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by AlexB

but you’re more intelligent than this.

Nah

[JPhillips]

Trumps confesses to collusion.

Fake News reporting, a complete fabrication, that I am concerned about the meeting my wonderful son, Donald, had in Trump Tower. This was a meeting to get information on an opponent, totally legal and done all the time in politics - and it went nowhere. I did not know about it!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 5, 2018

[panerd]

Originally Posted by mckerney

Maxine Waters is low IQ
Don Lemon is the dumbest man on TV
It's not easy to make LeBron look smart in comparison

I wonder what it is that could possibly have Trump insulting the intelligence of those three.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...r-insults.html

This is from 2 years ago so I'm sure the number has grown exponentially. The guy is an asshole no doubt but not everything is about race.

...and Maxine Waters is an idiot.

[panerd]

Originally Posted by larrymcg421

This is where panerd says that we already had that from 2008-16.

Nah, he started around his second term. His first term was actually trying to accomplish things. (Not my cup of tea but most big government on both sides isn't) His 2nd term was blaming Republicans for why he didn't do anything.

And you know what? Obama's 2nd term and Trump's first term with true opposition (The first a Congress that wouldn't do anything, the second a media that actually decided to start covering the mess in Washington DC) could be some of the best from panerd's perspective. I mean outside of the 10K posts in this thread about Trump going down (like my parents always thought Clinton was going down for Whitewater) his presidency really hasn't effected me at all. Got a decent tax break, great economy, not a big fan of how he makes the United States look to the world but already saw when George W. Bush had single digit ratings in some countries it quickly changes once we elect somebody closer to a socialist so no surprise there, and I may be one of the few that doesn't mind our leader being nice to another nuclear superpower.

So maybe I like populist ideologues? If only because they are all talk but don't "accomplish" anything.

[RainMaker]

He instilled a bunch of tariffs that have now caused him to hand out billions in welfare to the industry he hurt.

A President who uses government to mess with the free market and then tax dollars to cover it up will win the heart of a libertarian every time I guess.

[panerd]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

He instilled a bunch of tariffs that have now caused him to hand out billions in welfare to the industry he hurt.

A President who uses government to mess with the free market and then tax dollars to cover it up will win the heart of a libertarian every time I guess.

Yeah he's the first to mess with free market. Not really a fan of any of them but like I said in my post above his presidency, Clinton's 2nd term, and Obama's 2nd term rank fairly high in my lifetime for least damage done by the federal government. Guess what they had huge oppositions to all of their ideas. It's like asking JPhillips who his favorite Reds starter is right now. He will have to pick somebody... Castillo, Harvey? Doesn't mean they all don't suck.

EDIT: I mean the dream would be mass opposition elected this fall or GOP winning both houses in 2020 with a Democrat president. A libertarian president? Nah we wouldn't want somebody like Gary Johnson in the oval office with a high quality choice like Donald Trump!

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by panerd

Yeah he's the first to mess with free market. Not really a fan of any of them but like I said in my post above his presidency, Clinton's 2nd term, and Obama's 2nd term rank fairly high in my lifetime for least damage done by the federal government. Guess what they had huge oppositions to all of their ideas. It's like asking JPhillips who his favorite Reds starter is right now. He will have to pick somebody... Castillo, Harvey? Doesn't mean they all don't suck.

EDIT: I mean the dream would be mass opposition elected this fall or GOP winning both houses in 2020 with a Democrat president. A libertarian president? Nah we wouldn't want somebody like Gary Johnson in the oval office with a high quality choice like Donald Trump!

No, it's like asking which Mets starter you like best and saying none because they all let up runs.

Tariffs and trade wars are a really far-left economic stance. Like farther to the left of even Bernie Sanders. And that whole free trade thing is one of the most important tenets of libertarianism.

Maybe the problem with libertarians in this country is they actually don't seem to care much about libertarian principles (Rand Paul for example).

[panerd]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

No, it's like asking which Mets starter you like best and saying none because they all let up runs.

Tariffs and trade wars are a really far-left economic stance. Like farther to the left of even Bernie Sanders. And that whole free trade thing is one of the most important tenets of libertarianism.

Maybe the problem with libertarians in this country is they actually don't seem to care much about libertarian principles (Rand Paul for example).

A cordial relationship with Russia would be pretty high on their list as well but it seems.like half the county welcomes WWIII if it means getting Trump out of office. I love how me saying Obama's 2nd term and Trumps presidency have the advantage of having opposition has turned into me.being opposed to free trade.

[albionmoonlight]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Trumps confesses to collusion.

Fake News reporting, a complete fabrication, that I am concerned about the meeting my wonderful son, Donald, had in Trump Tower. This was a meeting to get information on an opponent, totally legal and done all the time in politics - and it went nowhere. I did not know about it!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 5, 2018

It didn't happen.

It probably didn't happen.

If it did happen, Trump didn't know about it.

If it did happen, Trump probably didn't know about it.

It happened.

It happened, and Trump didn't know about it, but is it technically a crime?

It happened, and Trump didn't know about it, and it is certainly not a crime.

It happened, and Trump didn't know about it, and it is certainly not a crime, and it is done all the time and good politics.

We're, what, maybe 6 months away from Republicans in Congress bringing impeachment charges against Hillary Clinton for the High Crime of not colluding with Russia?

[albionmoonlight]

And, yes, Hillary Clinton technically does not hold office, but do you really see the Freedom Caucus letting a technicality like that stand in their way?

[RainMaker]

A cordial relationship with a country that is actively hostile to you is difficult to pull off.

And I know libertarians have been friendly with Russia of late despite their supposed opposing views on governance. Russian state media gives them air time and won't ask them basic foreign policy questions like what is happening in Aleppo.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by panerd

A cordial relationship with Russia would be pretty high on their list as well but it seems.like half the county welcomes WWIII if it means getting Trump out of office. I love how me saying Obama's 2nd term and Trumps presidency have the advantage of having opposition has turned into me.being opposed to free trade.

A cordial relationship with Russia is dangerous as long as Putin is in power. He desperately wants to see the destabilization and possible destruction of our country.

Wanting to see Russia punished and called out for the bullshit they're pulling does not equate to wanting to see WWIII. Russia wants war with another global power less than we do, however, they have no problem taking advantage of idiots, destabilizing our government, and spreading distrust in our electoral system. Their government is walking all over us right now, but I guess our choices are millions die or we roll over.

[JPhillips]

So according to Trump and his lawyers,

The Trump campaign met with Russians offering dirt on their opponent.

Trump dictated a statement lying about the purpose of the meeting.

Trump fired the FBI Director for investigating Trump's relationship to Russia.


I know it won't be, but this should be enough to end his presidency.

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by Galaril

I assume this is sarcasm?!

I believe Trump is racist, if nothing else because he said that the "Mexican" judge born in Indiana shouldn't be able to judge his Trump U case.

I'm just slightly offended at the logic in mckerney's post. He cherry-picked three people who are black that Trump has called low IQ and assumes Trump is racist because of that. The thing is Trump has called many white people low IQ/dumb as well. It just seems to be a standard insult for him.

So I believe Trump is racist but I disagree on how the previous post implies that conclusion. I think he did use the insults because they opposed him in some way.

[Galaril]

Originally Posted by NobodyHere

I believe Trump is racist, if nothing else because he said that the "Mexican" judge born in Indiana shouldn't be able to judge his Trump U case.

I'm just slightly offended at the logic in mckerney's post. He cherry-picked three people who are black that Trump has called low IQ and assumes Trump is racist because of that. The thing is Trump has called many white people low IQ/dumb as well. It just seems to be a standard insult for him.

So I believe Trump is racist but I disagree on how the previous post implies that conclusion. I think he did use the insults because they opposed him in some way.

Ah got it . Thanks for the response and clarification.

[Flasch186]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Trumps confesses to collusion.

Fake News reporting, a complete fabrication, that I am concerned about the meeting my wonderful son, Donald, had in Trump Tower. This was a meeting to get information on an opponent, totally legal and done all the time in politics - and it went nowhere. I did not know about it!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 5, 2018

poof, the end.

[Ben E Lou]

I put the LeBron stuff in the “Trump is too much of a thin-skinned wimp to handle any criticism whatsoever, yet he watches CNN to see if they’re criticizing him and then lashes out when they do” bucket, not the “racist” bucket. I saw people talking about how it plays to his base and all that. Sure it does, but that’s not why this happened. He’s not playing 6D chess or even 2D chess. This was just a toddler getting his widdle feewings hurt by the mean people on CNN, and then throwing a temper tantrum.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

So according to Trump and his lawyers,

The Trump campaign met with Russians offering dirt on their opponent.

Trump dictated a statement lying about the purpose of the meeting.

Trump fired the FBI Director for investigating Trump's relationship to Russia.


I know it won't be, but this should be enough to end his presidency.

We're also supposed to believe that he had no knowledge of a "totally legal" meeting that took place at Trump Tower involving his son, son-in-law, and campaign manager while he was in Trump Tower.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

I put the LeBron stuff in the “Trump is too much of a thin-skinned wimp to handle any criticism whatsoever, yet he watches CNN to see if they’re criticizing him and then lashes out when they do” bucket, not the “racist” bucket. I saw people talking about how it plays to his base and all that. Sure it does, but that’s not why this happened. He’s not playing 6D chess or even 2D chess. This was just a toddler getting his widdle feewings hurt by the mean people on CNN, and then throwing a temper tantrum.

I don't know. Lebron didn't really go hard after him in that CNN interview.

The targeting of successful black people has been a racist dog whistle for some time. The implication that they aren't "real Americans" plays heavily in this. And his base loves having a new dark-skinned enemy (women enemites work too) to lay their anger and jealousy at.

Don't get me wrong, the fact that Lebron is a legitimate self-made billionaire and not just someone who plays it on TV has to drive him nuts. The fact that he is adored for giving back to his community in such grand ways while he just ran a scam school does too. Lebron is what he wishes he was in a way.

So I agree that this is a tantrum. But I also think at a time where he's essentially admitted to committing light treason, this aims to be a distraction.

[Thomkal]

So you might think the President would console those who lost everything in the CA wildfires and let them know the govt is there for them right? Instead we get...


Donald J. Trump‏Verified account @realDonaldTrump 1h1 hour ago




California wildfires are being magnified & made so much worse by the bad environmental laws which aren’t allowing massive amount of readily available water to be properly utilized. It is being diverted into the Pacific Ocean. Must also tree clear to stop fire spreading!

12,979 replies 6,967 retweets 26,069 likes

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

I don't know. Lebron didn't really go hard after him in that CNN interview.

The targeting of successful black people has been a racist dog whistle for some time. The implication that they aren't "real Americans" plays heavily in this. And his base loves having a new dark-skinned enemy (women enemites work too) to lay their anger and jealousy at.

Don't get me wrong, the fact that Lebron is a legitimate self-made billionaire and not just someone who plays it on TV has to drive him nuts. The fact that he is adored for giving back to his community in such grand ways while he just ran a scam school does too. Lebron is what he wishes he was in a way.

So I agree that this is a tantrum. But I also think at a time where he's essentially admitted to committing light treason, this aims to be a distraction.

LeBron said something like "I wouldn't sit down with Trump. I would have sat down with Obama." Isn't that like the ultimate insult to Trump? Especially given his previous fandom.

This explains it all... lmao #DearStan I just think it’s fucked up you don’t answer your fans...! Lol 🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡 S/O @eminem

A post shared by matt_barnes9 (@matt_barnes9) on Aug 4, 2018 at 11:09am PDT

But seriously, of course it's likely that Trump's reaction was even stronger because it was two black guys. All I'm saying is that I'm not giving him credit for this being a "strategic" attack in any way, or even a distraction. It may end up being one of those, sure. But I strongly suspect it was just a plain ol' tantrum.

[PilotMan]

Speculate all you want. A single comment, tweet, or sentence doesn't represent anything. You have to look at the entire body of work, laid end to end, then attempt to make an informed opinion on trump.

Focusing on one thing at a time, then spouting that this is the straw that broke the camels back just moves the rest down the line of importance. Instead, it needs to be added and mentioned along with everything else, every single night. The list is long and the body of work in logical ELI5 terms will play much better over and over, than just screaming about the latest idiotic ploy.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

So you might think the President would console those who lost everything in the CA wildfires and let them know the govt is there for them right? Instead we get...


Donald J. Trump‏Verified account @realDonaldTrump 1h1 hour ago




California wildfires are being magnified & made so much worse by the bad environmental laws which aren’t allowing massive amount of readily available water to be properly utilized. It is being diverted into the Pacific Ocean. Must also tree clear to stop fire spreading!

12,979 replies 6,967 retweets 26,069 likes

For those unaware, this is based off a weird right-wing conspiracy that's been around for awhile. Basically some land owners out West built these giant lakes (with dams and everything) on their property and diverted water to them. They were told you can't do that because it messes with the water supply for everyone else.

So it turned into a conspiracy that the evil government was preventing these true patriots from building lakes to suppress fires. In reality they were building these lakes to fish and go boating. That if they had been allowed to build these lakes, the wildfires would never happen. That the government was purposely letting all the water run off into the Pacific Ocean instead (when in reality it's going into the water supply for the residents).

[Radii]

Originally Posted by panerd

his presidency really hasn't effected me at all.

Oh dear.

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by Galaril

Ah got it . Thanks for the response and clarification.

No prob

This is on a personal note but I'm trying to be more articulate in my responses. I've always been a shy insular person and I never thought I've communicated my responses clearly. I'm trying to work on that. Hopefully in the future you guys will be hearing more from me

[Atocep]

The_Donald and some other right wing places that fed into the QAnon bullshit for months have been scrambling the past couple of days to distance themselves from it.

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article...-is-probably-a

[CU Tiger]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

For those unaware, this is based off a weird right-wing conspiracy that's been around for awhile. Basically some land owners out West built these giant lakes (with dams and everything) on their property and diverted water to them. They were told you can't do that because it messes with the water supply for everyone else.

So it turned into a conspiracy that the evil government was preventing these true patriots from building lakes to suppress fires. In reality they were building these lakes to fish and go boating. That if they had been allowed to build these lakes, the wildfires would never happen. That the government was purposely letting all the water run off into the Pacific Ocean instead (when in reality it's going into the water supply for the residents).

Interesting. Haven't followed that story line at all. Is local water availability a major problem in fighting the wildfires? I would think if so, so reservoir aquifer probably makes sense. But there are environmental impacts to be considered for sure.


I used to have a fishing buddy, who was an ecology and wildlife biology professor at Clemson before moving to DC for some advisory role with, I think, the USFS during the Obama administration. Now he had multiple PHDs in environmental science and biology related fields. He was fascinating to fish with, but he could go so far beyond my understanding so quickly I'd daze off at times.



But he was an adamant believer that we were the cause of the wildfires, specifically through fire prevention. He was as left leaning and tree hugging as you can imagine. But he would explain the fuel build up in leaf litter and how it created a powder keg ready to erupt. Ive heard the rant a couple times. Sadly I cant do it justice to repeat it. But in short he maintained that the western US forest had evolved over millenia through a repeated and regular series of semi controlled fires. From early man intentionally setting blazes to farm the land, to include less fire prevention from things like lightening strikes which were allowed to burn out. I wish I could hear his thoughts on the current situation. I just left him a voicemail and a text. He was passionate about it though calling Smokey Bear a horror and said his slogan should have been "Only you can delay Wildfires"

[QuikSand]

#NothingMatters

[Butter]

Originally Posted by panerd

A cordial relationship with Russia would be pretty high on their list as well but it seems.like half the county welcomes WWIII if it means getting Trump out of office. I love how me saying Obama's 2nd term and Trumps presidency have the advantage of having opposition has turned into me.being opposed to free trade.

Yes, because our two choices are Donald Trump or WWIII.

Dude.

[cartman]

But he was an adamant believer that we were the cause of the wildfires, specifically through fire prevention. He was as left leaning and tree hugging as you can imagine. But he would explain the fuel build up in leaf litter and how it created a powder keg ready to erupt. Ive heard the rant a couple times. Sadly I cant do it justice to repeat it. But in short he maintained that the western US forest had evolved over millenia through a repeated and regular series of semi controlled fires. From early man intentionally setting blazes to farm the land, to include less fire prevention from things like lightening strikes which were allowed to burn out. I wish I could hear his thoughts on the current situation. I just left him a voicemail and a text. He was passionate about it though calling Smokey Bear a horror and said his slogan should have been "Only you can delay Wildfires"

This is absolutely true. I've seen the before and after first hand. Back in the early 90s I worked at Philmont Scout Ranch in northern New Mexico. Before the land was donated to the Boy Scouts, the land had been heavily timber harvested, with no regard at that time for environmental practices like rotating harvest zones or monitored replanting. They just took every tree out, and moved on.

So what happened were that areas where there were supposed to be 150-200 trees per acre, there ended up being 6000+ trees per acre. Where the trees were supposed to be 100+ feet tall, they were 8-10 feet tall.

We worked a timber stand improvement project, where we culled out many of the trees, and cleared off the forest floor of most of the fallen pine needles and deadfall. Over the course of 5 summers around 30 acres were cleared.

In 2004, a really bad fire swept through, burning around 25,000 acres. The sections where nothing had been done since the trees had been clear cut, the damage was enormous. The fire stayed burning longer, and sterilized the soil, due to having all of the 6000+ trees per acre, plus the accumulated years of pine needles and branches that had fallen. In the areas where we did timber stand improvement, the fire burned through quicker, due to much less fuel.

Now nearly 15 years later, the untreated areas are still in really bad shape. Nothing much is growing back except for scrub stuff. Pine cones need fire to release their seeds, but the fire was so hot it destroyed the pine cones. In the timber stand improvement areas, trees are growing back.

So occasional fires are absolutely necessary to clear out accumulated undergrowth and allow pine cones to reseed. When nothing is done and things are allowed to build up until a catastrophe happens, it is really, really bad.

[Thomkal]

Alex Jones videos, etc get removed from several social media sites:


Apple, Facebook, YouTube and Spotify remove content by Infowars' Alex Jones

[Thomkal]

It was up in the air whether Rick Gates was going to testify in Manafort's trial. Not any longer-he's up next

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

It was up in the air whether Rick Gates was going to testify in Manafort's trial. Not any longer-he's up next

And apparently I'm a liar. Gates not testifying now, even though every indication he was going to be next.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

And apparently I'm a liar.

.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

Interesting. Haven't followed that story line at all. Is local water availability a major problem in fighting the wildfires? I would think if so, so reservoir aquifer probably makes sense. But there are environmental impacts to be considered for sure.

I don't know if there is an issue in water availability for fighting the fires. I think the issue was always about having enough water for people to drink and for the agricultural industry (which is a huge part of California) to stay sufficient.

Gary Harrington is one of the names I remember from it. But there have been others in California and Nevada that have butted heads with the government. Whenever fires like this start up the conspiracy theories start flowing about how this would have prevented it and we let all this water just flow into the Pacific (which is untrue).

As for fighting the fires, I know there has been a lot of flack given to the government about their methods. Some scientists believe they should be doing things differently. Doesn't really relate to this but you can find that stuff online.

[RainMaker]

It's also unfortunate that he didn't thank the firefighters. When I was in college I spent a Summer out West as part of a team that fought wildfires. The pay was crazy good for a college student ($35/hour plus tons of OT back in 2000). It was the most grueling work you can imagine and it took my body months after to fully recover. And I wasn't even one of the guys on the front lines doing the most dangerous work.

I can't imagine what it's like fighting fires like this. A change in wind can mean death. And just putting your bodies through that for months takes an enormous toll on you physically and mentally.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

And apparently I'm a liar. Gates not testifying now, even though every indication he was going to be next.

I can't stop lying just like Donald Trump. Gates on the stand now...or is he?

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

And apparently I'm a liar. Gates not testifying now, even though every indication he was going to be next.

Should have stuck to your guns.

Gates is testifying and said he committed crimes with Manafort.

[Thomkal]

Gates first asked if he had committed crimes with Manafort and involved in any criminal activity with him. Says yes to both questions. Says they had 15 foreign accounts they did not report to the federal govt and it was at Manafort's order.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

Should have stuck to your guns.

Gates is testifying and said he committed crimes with Manafort.

Lying and guns? Little did I know I worked for the NRA

[jeff061]

Originally Posted by Atocep

The_Donald and some other right wing places that fed into the QAnon bullshit for months have been scrambling the past couple of days to distance themselves from it.

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article...-is-probably-a

Ha. QAnon is the same as Anonymous, without the false sense of importance. Bored kids saying shit to amuse themselves, laughing in disbelief when idiots in the masses pick up on it and then seeing how far they can take it.

At least this one is far sillier than anonymous, which people to this day still think is a real group. Not just a message board of random teens with single click DDoS tools my 9 month old could literally operate.

[Thomkal]

Gates admits he embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars from Manafort

[cuervo72]

Well sure - your boss has illegal/unreported accounts, what's he going to do if you steal from him, snitch?

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by cuervo72

Well sure - your boss has illegal/unreported accounts, what's he going to do if you steal from him, snitch?

Yeah, that's all well and good as long as your boss isn't this guy.

[RainMaker]

Not sure if we have an international news thread but did anyone see the Saudis put up a tweet basically threatening a 9/11 on Canada?

[cuervo72]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

Yeah, that's all well and good as long as your boss isn't this guy.

It's been so long I had to check to confirm this was from what I thought it was (and even then, all I had was "right, the one where the missile blew up the cartel house").

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by cuervo72

It's been so long I had to check to confirm this was from what I thought it was (and even then, all I had was "right, the one where the missile blew up the cartel house").

I watched it again fairly recently on either Netflix or Prime. Good flick!

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Not sure if we have an international news thread but did anyone see the Saudis put up a tweet basically threatening a 9/11 on Canada?

It was taken down, but here's a screenshot:

Now deleted, here a screenshot of the threatening Saudi "infographic" featuring an airliner headed for the Toronto skyline. pic.twitter.com/LrkCLxxjFk

— Tobias Schneider (@tobiaschneider) August 6, 2018