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Trump Timeline ... Trumpocalypse
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In the postwar world, US policy had four attractive features: it had appealing core values; it was loyal to allies who shared those values; it believed in open and competitive markets; and it underpinned those markets with institutionalised rules. This system was always incomplete and imperfect. But it was a highly original and attractive approach to the business of running the world. For those who believe humanity must transcend its petty differences, these principles were a start.
Yet today the US president appears hostile to core American values of democracy, freedom and the rule of law; he feels no loyalty to allies; he rejects open markets; and he despises international institutions. He believes that might makes right. The Chinese president Xi Jinping and Russian president Vladimir Putin have might. He admires them. German chancellor Angela Merkel and UK prime minister Theresa May are decent women trying to lead democracies. He abuses them.
So why is Mr Trump in power? The answer lies with a political failure that the US might be unable to overcome. Mr Trump’s accession to power is partly an accident, but not only an accident.
...
Mr Trump is the logical outcome of a politics that serves the interests of the plutocracy. He gives the rich what they desire, while offering the nationalism and protectionism wanted by the Republican base. It is a brilliant (albeit unplanned) combination, embodied in a charismatic personality that offers validation to his most passionate supporters. Will Trump’s protectionism do many in his base any good? No. But, in their eyes, he is a real leader, at last.
Who lost “our” America? The American elite, especially the Republican elite. Mr Trump is the price of tax cuts for billionaires. They sowed the wind; the world is reaping the whirlwind. Should we expect the old America back? Not until someone finds a more politically successful way of meeting the needs and anxieties of ordinary people.
President Trump claimed Tuesday that during his visit to England, Queen Elizabeth II reviewed her Guard of Honor for the first time in 70 years -- but she's only been queen for 65 years. And as any royal-watcher knows, reviewing the guard is something she's been photographed doing many times over the years.
"We met with the queen, who is absolutely a terrific person, where she reviewed her Honor Guard for the first time in 70 years, they tell me," Mr. Trump said at the White House Tuesday. "We walked in front of the Honor Guard and that was very inspiring to see and be with her. And I think the relationship, I can truly say is a good one. But she was very, very inspiring indeed."
The queen's coronation was in June 1953. Reviewing the Honor Guard is a frequent part of her royal duties. She did so with President Obama during his visit to Buckingham Palace in 2011.
[Thread] 1. IMPORTANT: Among the many outrages in Helsinki, Trump appears to have bought (or been suckered) into providing fuel to Putin's animus for former US Ambassador to Russia Mike @McFaul. The Administration needs to kill this outrageous proposal before it gets any legs.
2. Trump cited Putin's "interesting idea" and "incredible offer" regarding the Mueller investigation. Russia would allow Mueller's investigators to come to Russia to question the 12 operatives indicted in connection with interference in the US election. But there was a catch.
3. Putin conditioned the offer on Russia being able to send investigators to question those involved in alleged crimes involving Russia. He singled out Bill Browder &referenced a mysterious alleged plot he and "associates" were involved with to launder money to HRC's campaign.
4. My 11-year old knows the offer is ludicrous and unacceptable. ...
Thread by @DanielBShapiro: "1. IMPORTANT: Among the many outrages in Helsinki, Trump appears to have bought (or been suckered) into providing fuel to Putin's animus for […]"
2. Trump cited Putin's "interesting idea" and "incredible offer" regarding the Mueller investigation. Russia would allow Mueller's investigators to come to Russia to question the 12 operatives indicted in connection with interference in the US election. But there was a catch.
3. Putin conditioned the offer on Russia being able to send investigators to question those involved in alleged crimes involving Russia. He singled out Bill Browder &referenced a mysterious alleged plot he and "associates" were involved with to launder money to HRC's campaign.
4. My 11-year old knows the offer is ludicrous and unacceptable. ...
Thread by @DanielBShapiro: "1. IMPORTANT: Among the many outrages in Helsinki, Trump appears to have bought (or been suckered) into providing fuel to Putin's animus for […]"
DOUBLE NEGATIVE PRESIDENT
https://claytoonz.com/2018/07/18/double-negative-president/
Talk with Putin about Ukraine? Nyet. Talk about annexing Crimea? Nyet? Talk about shooting down a Malaysian airliner? Nyet. Take him to task for meddling in our election? Nyet! Nyet! Nyet! Roll over and kiss his ass? Oh, hell yeah.
During Trump’s summit with Putin, he backed the Russian dictator’s assertion that he didn’t meddle in the 2016 presidential election. In Helsinki, while standing next to Putin, Trump said, “My people came to me, Dan Coats came to me and some others, they said they think it’s Russia. I have President Putin; he just said it’s not Russia. I will say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be.”
Trump was proud of his statements and behavior at the summit. On the flight home aboard Air Force One, he turned on the television to find that most people didn’t agree with him. The term “treasonous behavior” was tossed around…a lot. Even Fox News wasn’t buying it and were highly critical, except Hannity. Even Newt Gingrich said it was the most “serious mistake” of the Trump presidency. According to unnamed sources, Trump’s mood got so dark that staffers were avoiding him on the plane. Do you know how hard it is to escape someone on an airplane? Even on Air Force, One it has to be difficult. I saw that Harrison Ford movie. Except Harrison was trying to kick Russians off the plane, where in reality Trump would probably hand them the keys.
Trump rarely apologizes or backtracks. This is a man who didn’t apologize or backtrack for saying John McCain, a POW, was NOT a war hero. He didn’t do it after attacking Gold Star Families. He didn’t apologize for saying he didn’t want people coming here from “shit hole countries.” He didn’t even apologize for defending Nazis. But then again, none of that stuff really upset Republicans that much. Treason while sharing a stage with Putin on camera, however, does upset a few members of the GOP.
It took over 24 hours and after two interviews on Fox News for Trump to realize he had to issue a statement explaining his statements. In the tradition of all things Trump, the statement was incoherent and stupid.
Trump didn’t backtrack on attacking the FBI, or his whataboutism deflecting about Hillary’s server, or calling an investigation that indicts Russians a “witch hunt,” blaming the victims who were hacked, thinking it’s a great idea for Russian to help investigate the meddling, or his total appeasement of Vladimir Putin. He focused on one word and told us he didn’t have sex with that dictator depending on your definition of the word “is.” Oops, wrong president.
No. Trump told us he meant to say “wouldn’t” instead of “would.” He thought it would be clear and understandable for most people that “would” meant “wouldn’t.” In saying he didn’t see why Russia “would” meddle, he meant to say He didn’t understand why Russia “wouldn’t” meddle. He explained it away as a “double negative.” I’m shocked he didn’t say Putin didn’t not do it.
He is overlooking the fact that his “would/wouldn’t” statement was sandwiched between praise for Putin. So, saying it was Russia who meddled doesn’t fit into the context. Even after his statement, he started riffing and went back to his old argument about others besides Russia doing the hacking.
Trump was reading off a script when he delivered his explanation, and on the script “no collusion” (with only one L) was written with a Sharpie.
The White House defense is that we don’t have to worry about treason, just incoherence. While I do believe Trump is incoherent, I’m not buying the explanation. Trump meant to say he believes Vladimir Putin over America’s intelligence agencies.
The real danger in this is that it takes us back to where we were last week. Republicans will go back to business as usual, which is defending Trump no matter what horrible things he says or does. Now they can say it’s not treasonous behavior because Trump changed one word. Even if you did buy it, that doesn’t change the rest of the summit or the fact Trump held Putin’s hand in private for two hours. It doesn’t change the fact that the president of the United States sided with a Russian dictator over the nation he’s sworn to defend and protect. His squirmful backtracking doesn’t change the fact he threw every single one of us under the bus.
Republicans and Trump sycophants can’t use this lousy excuse to deflect from the real danger that is Donald Trump. Donald Trump did engage in treasonous behavior. There is no way to walk around what Trump did in Helsinki. There is no way to overlook that Putin has something on Donald Trump, or that our president is enamored and afraid of Putin. But to be fair, Trump is afraid of a lot of people and things. Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Warren, vegetables, written text, shark week, stairs, etc.
During Trump’s explanation, the lights in the room actually went out for a few seconds. Someone has the right idea because the lights need to go out on this entire administration.
https://claytoonz.com/2018/07/18/double-negative-president/
Talk with Putin about Ukraine? Nyet. Talk about annexing Crimea? Nyet? Talk about shooting down a Malaysian airliner? Nyet. Take him to task for meddling in our election? Nyet! Nyet! Nyet! Roll over and kiss his ass? Oh, hell yeah.
During Trump’s summit with Putin, he backed the Russian dictator’s assertion that he didn’t meddle in the 2016 presidential election. In Helsinki, while standing next to Putin, Trump said, “My people came to me, Dan Coats came to me and some others, they said they think it’s Russia. I have President Putin; he just said it’s not Russia. I will say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be.”
Trump was proud of his statements and behavior at the summit. On the flight home aboard Air Force One, he turned on the television to find that most people didn’t agree with him. The term “treasonous behavior” was tossed around…a lot. Even Fox News wasn’t buying it and were highly critical, except Hannity. Even Newt Gingrich said it was the most “serious mistake” of the Trump presidency. According to unnamed sources, Trump’s mood got so dark that staffers were avoiding him on the plane. Do you know how hard it is to escape someone on an airplane? Even on Air Force, One it has to be difficult. I saw that Harrison Ford movie. Except Harrison was trying to kick Russians off the plane, where in reality Trump would probably hand them the keys.
Trump rarely apologizes or backtracks. This is a man who didn’t apologize or backtrack for saying John McCain, a POW, was NOT a war hero. He didn’t do it after attacking Gold Star Families. He didn’t apologize for saying he didn’t want people coming here from “shit hole countries.” He didn’t even apologize for defending Nazis. But then again, none of that stuff really upset Republicans that much. Treason while sharing a stage with Putin on camera, however, does upset a few members of the GOP.
It took over 24 hours and after two interviews on Fox News for Trump to realize he had to issue a statement explaining his statements. In the tradition of all things Trump, the statement was incoherent and stupid.
Trump didn’t backtrack on attacking the FBI, or his whataboutism deflecting about Hillary’s server, or calling an investigation that indicts Russians a “witch hunt,” blaming the victims who were hacked, thinking it’s a great idea for Russian to help investigate the meddling, or his total appeasement of Vladimir Putin. He focused on one word and told us he didn’t have sex with that dictator depending on your definition of the word “is.” Oops, wrong president.
No. Trump told us he meant to say “wouldn’t” instead of “would.” He thought it would be clear and understandable for most people that “would” meant “wouldn’t.” In saying he didn’t see why Russia “would” meddle, he meant to say He didn’t understand why Russia “wouldn’t” meddle. He explained it away as a “double negative.” I’m shocked he didn’t say Putin didn’t not do it.
He is overlooking the fact that his “would/wouldn’t” statement was sandwiched between praise for Putin. So, saying it was Russia who meddled doesn’t fit into the context. Even after his statement, he started riffing and went back to his old argument about others besides Russia doing the hacking.
Trump was reading off a script when he delivered his explanation, and on the script “no collusion” (with only one L) was written with a Sharpie.
The White House defense is that we don’t have to worry about treason, just incoherence. While I do believe Trump is incoherent, I’m not buying the explanation. Trump meant to say he believes Vladimir Putin over America’s intelligence agencies.
The real danger in this is that it takes us back to where we were last week. Republicans will go back to business as usual, which is defending Trump no matter what horrible things he says or does. Now they can say it’s not treasonous behavior because Trump changed one word. Even if you did buy it, that doesn’t change the rest of the summit or the fact Trump held Putin’s hand in private for two hours. It doesn’t change the fact that the president of the United States sided with a Russian dictator over the nation he’s sworn to defend and protect. His squirmful backtracking doesn’t change the fact he threw every single one of us under the bus.
Republicans and Trump sycophants can’t use this lousy excuse to deflect from the real danger that is Donald Trump. Donald Trump did engage in treasonous behavior. There is no way to walk around what Trump did in Helsinki. There is no way to overlook that Putin has something on Donald Trump, or that our president is enamored and afraid of Putin. But to be fair, Trump is afraid of a lot of people and things. Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Warren, vegetables, written text, shark week, stairs, etc.
During Trump’s explanation, the lights in the room actually went out for a few seconds. Someone has the right idea because the lights need to go out on this entire administration.
The only noticeable difference in President Trump’s newest attempt to get us to believe anything he says is how uncomfortable he looked saying it. He had all the contrition and sincerity of a kid sent to the chalkboard to write 100 times, “Vladimir Putin is NOT a good friend of U.S. democracy.”
As to the plausibility of his meaning to https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-trump-retreats-grudging-apologies-plus-a-wink-and-a-nod-to-the-original-insult/2018/07/17/ea7ac346-89f9-11e8-8aea-86e88ae760d8_story.html?utm_term=.cda4504aa0af (say “wouldn’t” instead of “would,”) little needs to be added. It’s not plausible at all given the context of his other remarks at the time, his obvious squirming demeanor, his track record for not telling the truth, or his adding the gratuitous qualifier “Could be other people also. A lot of people out there.” The cosmos was also signaling us as the room faded to black as he spoke. Did somebody say “Democracy Dies in Darkness”?
No, this new version of reality wasn’t particularly even meant to be believed. The story is now 180 degrees different? It’s 1984! Now we’re allied with Eurasia and always have been! Use your Memory Hole!
And this is where Trump drew yet another step closer to Putin. Putin says a lot of things, too. He doesn’t expect Russians to believe him either. He said himself at the Helsinki news conference, “As to who is to be believed, who is not to be believed, you can trust no one.” The point for Putin, for Russia, for any controlled propaganda state, isn’t that you believe or don’t believe. It is that you have no choice. There is one official source of information, and that’s all that counts. It has the power to make you act as if you believe it.
And that, of course, is the danger here, with Trump’s relentless assault on the truth. His goal is to undermine the very idea of truth. “You can trust no one.” The independent media is fake news. Let him say it a few thousand more times. Fake news. Fake news. Fake news. All of it. Any of it. Until all assertions are equal, though some assertions are more equal than others. The assertions of the leader. Of Trump. As of Putin in Russia, so as of Trump in America.
Don’t believe that’s what’s going on? Then Trump’s mission is half completed.
And so Trump is not done, not yet, not by any means.
“The framers were very much aware that we could end up with an immoral demagogue,” Ornstein said. “They built in safeguards, the most significant being an independent Congress, with power of the purse, oversight, confirmation, impeachment. But at every level, this Congress has failed miserably. Republicans have done nothing but try and protect Trump, despite outrageous ineptitude, cabinet offices being manipulated to make money, children treated in criminal fashion — no oversight hearings, nothing! This is the biggest abdication I have ever seen.”
Yes, some Republican lawmakers did raise their voices to denounce Trump’s interactions with Putin, or at least express confidence in American intelligence agencies. But these were mere words — too little, too late. They are complicit in Trump’s Russian complicity, his base, possibly criminal, flirtation.
The president is not done.
Soon, there may be indictments from Robert Mueller, the special counsel, of high officials or members of Trump’s family. What then? Ornstein’s nightmare scenario: Trump fires Mueller, pardons himself and everyone else, sends his followers into the street, and, after the inevitable bloodshed, declares martial law.
Not yet. Not yet.
"Aggressive Montenegro" (to Russia) is something like saying the girl is to blame after she got raped.
The REALITY: Russia tried to violently overthrow the government of Montenegro to stop it from joining NATO. Wake the fuck up, please.
Thread by @NBCNews: "President Trump calls out "very aggressive" Montenegro in latest NATO jibe. http://nbcnews.to/2zRtUlo (1/5)
...
Thread by @NBCNews: "President Trump calls out "very aggressive" Montenegro in latest NATO jibe. nbcnews.to/2zRtUlo (1/5) In the 12 short years since Montenegro […]"
The REALITY: Russia tried to violently overthrow the government of Montenegro to stop it from joining NATO. Wake the fuck up, please.
Thread by @NBCNews: "President Trump calls out "very aggressive" Montenegro in latest NATO jibe. http://nbcnews.to/2zRtUlo (1/5)
...
Thread by @NBCNews: "President Trump calls out "very aggressive" Montenegro in latest NATO jibe. nbcnews.to/2zRtUlo (1/5) In the 12 short years since Montenegro […]"
