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Trump Timeline ... Trumpocalypse
- Thread starter CdnGuy
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Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda guru, is infamous for his assertion that the bigger the lie, the more effective it is—particularly if you stick to it. It’s not hard to demonstrate that mixing fact and fiction together to spin a narrative, what is properly termed disinformation, can be mightily effective at removing inconvenient facts from public discourse.
With each passing day, President Donald J. Trump’s defense of his rumored Kremlin ties demonstrates this reality, while constituting a mounting exercise in what mental health professionals term projection. That is, rather than admit his own misdeeds, Trump merely passes them on to his accusers. Whereas the president for more than a year insisted there was “NO COLLUSION” with Moscow, of late he has taken to accusing Special Counsel Robert Mueller and those investigating him—particularly the Federal Bureau of Investigation—of being the “real colluders,” as O. J. Simpson might put it.
In this telling, which the White House and its media minions push hard daily, Trump is the innocent victim of a far-reaching conspiracy conjured up by Democrats to keep him from winning the Oval Office in 2016. This plot allegedly consisted of invented evidence designed to malign the reality TV star-turned Republican nominee.
Facts are immaterial to this administration, however, and the painful truth understood by anyone versed in the ways of the Kremlin, particularly under the leadership of President Vladimir Putin, is that the entire Trump campaign in 2016 was an extended exercise in collusion with Russia. While the details of quid pro quos are unknown to the public, that Trump’s run for the White House was chockablock with efforts to enlist Kremlin help needs to be explained.
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Mister Sandman
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DOJ HAPPY PLACE
https://claytoonz.com/2018/05/22/doj-happy-place/
For a bunch of people who hate “fake” investigations, they sure do like calling for them. Or in this case, demanding. In case you haven’t noticed, Trump and his defenders don’t even argue the facts anymore in defending him on charges of collusion with Russia and obstruction. Instead, they attack the Department of Justice and the FBI.
A few weeks ago while screaming at the country on Fox & Friends, Trump said at some point he was going to get involved with the Justice Department. That’s exactly what he did Sunday. Trump issued an order through a tweet, “I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes — and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!”
There was a time when we believed it was a good thing that our law enforcement was protecting us from foreign spies. The Republican Party used to be about law and order. Not anymore.
Russia engaged in a campaign to interfere in our election. Law enforcement warned the Trump campaign and asked them to report anything suspicious. Instead, at least seven members of the Trump campaign met with Russians and were very eager to receive their help in defeating Hillary Clinton. The FBI spied on the Russians in the Trump campaign, not to hurt Trump, but to protect America.
In fact, the FBI told us they were investigating Clinton but never said anything about investigating people in the Trump campaign. It’s a hard argument to say the FBI was favoring Clinton over Trump, but Republicans don’t do reality anymore.
Trump’s newest deflection is that the FBI was spying on his campaign. Next, he’s going to claim they threw a porn star at him. Now he’s ordering the Justice Department to investigate those investigating him. This should not be allowed.
A few weeks ago, Deputy Attorney General, who is overseeing the Special Counsel’s investigation into Trump’s collusion with Russia said, “the Department of Justice is not going to be extorted. We’re going to do what’s required by the rule of law, and any kind of threats that anybody makes are not going to affect the way we do our job.” Now, he has caved to the bully.
There is no reason, evidence, or signs that the FBI planted moles into the Trump campaign. Donald Trump and his goons in Congress claim they did. Trump may be president, but that doesn’t mean he understands how anything works. The man asked Bill Gates twice if HIV and HPV were the same thing. Donald Trump is stupid.
Rosenstein may be just placating Trump, but the Justice Department should not cave to a bully. The Department of Justice and those in Congress should educate Trump that he is not an authoritarian leader and there are limits to what he can do. They should not be lickspittles.
Trump will not stop with this request to investigate those investigating him. Giving a bully your lunch money never stopped the bully from demanding it again. It only encouraged him. Trump has been encouraged by Rosenstein, just as he’s been by those in Congress who deem protecting Trump at all cost as their jobs.
Trump believes the Justice Department should be his own protection agency and go after his enemies. He’s complained how Attorney General Jeff Sessions isn’t protecting him and that he needs a Roy Cohn, Trump former lawyer who was counsel for Joseph McCarthy and eventually disbarred. That is the kind of lawyer Trump wants.
This is not North Korea, Cuba, Iran, China, Russia, or the Philippines. Trump should not be allowed to be a bully or a strongman potentate. Congress and the DOJ need to educate him where the lines are drawn and what he can’t get away with.
We don’t need a Roy Cohn. We need leaders in DOJ who will not let Trump put his little grubby orange hands on Lady Justice.
https://claytoonz.com/2018/05/22/doj-happy-place/
For a bunch of people who hate “fake” investigations, they sure do like calling for them. Or in this case, demanding. In case you haven’t noticed, Trump and his defenders don’t even argue the facts anymore in defending him on charges of collusion with Russia and obstruction. Instead, they attack the Department of Justice and the FBI.
A few weeks ago while screaming at the country on Fox & Friends, Trump said at some point he was going to get involved with the Justice Department. That’s exactly what he did Sunday. Trump issued an order through a tweet, “I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes — and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!”
There was a time when we believed it was a good thing that our law enforcement was protecting us from foreign spies. The Republican Party used to be about law and order. Not anymore.
Russia engaged in a campaign to interfere in our election. Law enforcement warned the Trump campaign and asked them to report anything suspicious. Instead, at least seven members of the Trump campaign met with Russians and were very eager to receive their help in defeating Hillary Clinton. The FBI spied on the Russians in the Trump campaign, not to hurt Trump, but to protect America.
In fact, the FBI told us they were investigating Clinton but never said anything about investigating people in the Trump campaign. It’s a hard argument to say the FBI was favoring Clinton over Trump, but Republicans don’t do reality anymore.
Trump’s newest deflection is that the FBI was spying on his campaign. Next, he’s going to claim they threw a porn star at him. Now he’s ordering the Justice Department to investigate those investigating him. This should not be allowed.
A few weeks ago, Deputy Attorney General, who is overseeing the Special Counsel’s investigation into Trump’s collusion with Russia said, “the Department of Justice is not going to be extorted. We’re going to do what’s required by the rule of law, and any kind of threats that anybody makes are not going to affect the way we do our job.” Now, he has caved to the bully.
There is no reason, evidence, or signs that the FBI planted moles into the Trump campaign. Donald Trump and his goons in Congress claim they did. Trump may be president, but that doesn’t mean he understands how anything works. The man asked Bill Gates twice if HIV and HPV were the same thing. Donald Trump is stupid.
Rosenstein may be just placating Trump, but the Justice Department should not cave to a bully. The Department of Justice and those in Congress should educate Trump that he is not an authoritarian leader and there are limits to what he can do. They should not be lickspittles.
Trump will not stop with this request to investigate those investigating him. Giving a bully your lunch money never stopped the bully from demanding it again. It only encouraged him. Trump has been encouraged by Rosenstein, just as he’s been by those in Congress who deem protecting Trump at all cost as their jobs.
Trump believes the Justice Department should be his own protection agency and go after his enemies. He’s complained how Attorney General Jeff Sessions isn’t protecting him and that he needs a Roy Cohn, Trump former lawyer who was counsel for Joseph McCarthy and eventually disbarred. That is the kind of lawyer Trump wants.
This is not North Korea, Cuba, Iran, China, Russia, or the Philippines. Trump should not be allowed to be a bully or a strongman potentate. Congress and the DOJ need to educate him where the lines are drawn and what he can’t get away with.
We don’t need a Roy Cohn. We need leaders in DOJ who will not let Trump put his little grubby orange hands on Lady Justice.
Nobody is saying that President Trump is wearing a dynamite vest and will blow up the White House and most of the the East Coast if anybody tries to hold him accountable. But they might as well be saying it. Because he might as well be wearing a dynamite vest.
Half of the Trump formula is to transgress and to accumulate accomplices by bullying or seduction. The other half is scaring off anyone who might hold him accountable by bullying or by making it clear he will not go quietly. And what not quietly means is he will resort to anything and everything to protect himself. He is not just playing crazy with North Korea; he is playing it with the United States. Message received.
Not to introduce too many metaphors, but it’s a little like a cancer trying to convince the sufferer that surgery and chemo would be too uncomfortable. Well, yes, plenty uncomfortable, but nonetheless plenty necessary.
We pause here for a bit of diversion, as the Trump self-image machine has jumped the shark. The U.S. government has produced, ahead of the North Korean meeting, if it occurs and whatever the result, a prematurely commemorative coin of truly Trumpian tackiness. The White House denies involvement, but I don’t see why. It is everything Trump stands for. Boasting about unachieved results, gold-colored plating, willingness to equate himself with a crazy dictator, appearing near the words “Supreme Leader” and all-around gaudy vulgarity.
But now back to our actual problem. Trump is busy laying the groundwork for not just a legal crisis, or even a constitutional crisis, but a crisis of the American people. Trump and his fellow travelers are busy poisoning many Americans’ faith in the rule of law by poisoning their acceptance of its officers. This has no other purpose than to create a swath of the public who would support him in a coup-like move to neutralize law enforcement aimed at him. The message is nothing short of saying it would be too dangerous for anyone to seriously challenge his power and prerogatives.
Somebody should check to see if anyone has already produced a Supreme Leader coin with only Trump on it.
This morning, new details are emerging about the depth of President Trump’s efforts to subvert the workings of justice, in order to undermine an ongoing investigation into himself and his cronies. We still don’t know how far Trump will go in this regard.
But here’s one thing we do know: He is seriously considering pushing this interference as far as he thinks he’ll be able to get away with, meaning that external constraints — or a belief that doing this will backfire on him politically — may be the only things capable of stopping him.
We know this because Trump has told us so himself, in his own words, repeatedly. Perhaps we should believe him.
...
Trump signaled in his own words that he was going to do this and more. Trump recently tweeted that “at some point” he will “use the powers granted to the Presidency and get involved!” Late last year, he said that “I have absolute right to do what I want to do with the Justice Department.” On still another occasion, Trump revealingly admitted that he is “very frustrated” by the fact that “he is not supposed to be involved” with DOJ, meaning he recognizes there is a norm that dictates this limit on his power, but he sees it as an inconvenience, and does not recognize that there are good institutional reasons for preserving it.
This is the crux of the problem. And a new scholarly paper helps shed light on the deeper conundrum at work here. [Can the President Control the Department of Justice? Can the President Control the Department of Justice? by Rebecca Roiphe, Bruce A. Green :: SSRN]
Right after Trump won the presidency, Masha Gessen counseled us to “believe the autocrat,” because he “means what he says.” We don’t know how far Trump will take his interference with law enforcement. But we do know that he doesn’t recognize any legitimate limits on how far he should take it, other than whatever constraints exist on what he can get away with. He has basically told us so himself. And as we are now learning, he obviously meant it. Autocracy: Rules for Survival
President Trump is caught in a vicious, losing cycle of his own making. First, take aim at an Obama administration policy or law. Second, declare that you have something much better. Third, roll out the “something,” which turns out to be nothing viable — in other words, fail.
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Pick any topic — trade with China, NAFTA, North Korea, etc. Trump goes in with maximalist demands, as if it were just another licensing deal or casino, with no idea how he is going to accomplish the end result. Alas, the international stage is not a TV show, nor can he conceal failures, as he could running a family business and https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/trump-lied-to-me-about-his-wealth-to-get-onto-the-forbes-400-here-are-the-tapes/2018/04/20/ac762b08-4287-11e8-8569-26fda6b404c7_story.html?utm_term=.e6ec977a0a10 (exaggerating his wealth).
His demands are often premised on things that just aren’t so (we “owe” someone the trade deficit, no one ever got a deal with North Korea, we are losing millions of jobs under NAFTA). He is either not educable, or his advisers are afraid to try. Together they run headlong into a wall (another silly promise, undeliverable!). He then is forced to blame others (usually Obama, sometimes Congress) or pretend he got what he wanted. (He keeps falsely telling crowds that he is building the wall.)
Rather than solve problems (expensive health-care premiums, theft of intellectual property) he creates new or bigger ones (even higher premiums, a trade war). His staff is forced to rush to rationalize and do damage control when he behaves impulsively, as he did in agreeing to a face-to-face summit with North Korea without understanding fully what he was doing. Trump acts rashly, and advisers rush to keep up and rationalize the outcome they didn’t expect and may not have supported.
(https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/whos-to-blame-for-the-hiccup-in-north-korea-talks-south-koreans-say-bolton/2018/05/21/f5099324-5cdf-11e8-8c93-8cf33c21da8d_story.html?utm_term=.35e7c59d238f (The Post reports), “The biggest problem comes, experts [in Seoul] say, from Trump’s fundamental misunderstanding of North Korea’s interests. The regime in Pyongyang has never said it was prepared to unilaterally give up its nuclear program but has instead repeatedly made clear that this would have to be part of a ‘phased and synchronous’ process that would involve rewards for North Korea along the way.” Oops. That sounds like a rather large deal.)
Trump, the spin goes, likes to operate in chaos. That’s a convenient excuse for someone who has no idea what he thinks or what to do. The chaos certainly doesn’t stop at the Oval Office door. Creating confusion in lieu of sound strategy may work in reality TV or real estate or even on a campaign. Voters learn the hard way that it does not work in governing.
All of which leads to the theory that Broidy was acting as a cut-out for the person who really had the affair with Bechard: Donald Trump. That theory is, at the moment, unproven but compelling.
There’s one more piece to this puzzle. We all know about Trump’s weird relationship with his daughter Ivanka, how he often comments on her body and says things like “If she weren’t my daughter, perhaps I’d be dating her.” Both Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, the Playboy model who says she had an affair with Trump, said that Trump compared them to his daughter, which is a rather odd thing to say to a woman you’re having sex with. Whatever the true nature of Trump’s feelings, it’s clear that he’s attracted to women who remind him of Ivanka. I bring this up because Shera Bechard is a dead ringer for Ivanka Trump. An absolute dead ringer.
But if the theory about Trump being the person who really had the affair with Bechard is true, why would Broidy step in and put up $1.6 million of his own money to do Trump a solid in this way? The explanation is that he stood to gain much, much more. ...
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