Trump Timeline ... Trumpocalypse

Trump might as well be talking about putting up the wall to protect from Martian invaders. The threat is just as real. (Remember we have a net outflow of immigrants.) A wall would be just as effective. The policy would be just as clearly delusional.

But don't forget, lurking behind the idiocy of the border wall is the cruelty of Trump border policies--babies in cages, dead children, separated families, concentration camps, denial of people's basic human right to asylum, incompetence, vile conditions, brutality.

In other words, the president's border policies are cruelty rooted in racism and wrapped in a fabric of lies and sick fantasies. There should be not one dollar for the wall and if the president wants to shut down part of the government to get what he should not have, let him.

It's on him and his enablers. (And if you doubt for a minute the vileness of these policies, spend a couple minutes watching Sec. Nielsen today. She is now, alongside Trump, the face of American barbarity.)

Thread by @djrothkopf: "Trump might as well be talking about putting up the wall to protect from Martian invaders. The threat is just as real. (Remember we have a n […]"
 


In a recent opinion piece, I argued that the text and structure of the Constitution, a serious commitment to the rule of law and plain good sense combine to preclude a rigid policy of “delaying any indictment of a president for crimes committed in winning the presidency.” When a scholar I admire as much as Philip Bobbitt strongly disagrees and argues otherwise in this publication, I need to rethink my position and respond—either confessing error or explaining why I continue to hold to the views I originally expressed.

Not to extend the suspense, I haven’t changed my mind. My op-ed argued against the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) memos opining that the Constitution prevents the indictment of a sitting president. Nearly everyone concedes that any such policy would have to permit exceptions. The familiar hypothetical of a president who shoots and kills someone in plain view clinches the point. Surely, there must be an exception for that kind of case: Having to wait until the House of Representatives impeaches the alleged murderer and the Senate removes him from office before prosecuting and sentencing him would be crazy. Nobody seriously advocates applying the OLC mantra of “no-indictment-of-a-sitting-president” to that kind of case.

...

Thus, even if trial and sentencing are to be delayed, there is a compelling case for indicting such a president in plain view and offering him a choice. If he wishes, he could be publicly tried and invoke Section 3 of the 25th Amendment if he is ready to certify that the burdens of criminal trial prevent him from “discharg[ing] the powers and duties of his office” so that those powers and duties devolve on the Vice President for the duration of the trial. Or his trial could be deferred if he expressly agrees, as a binding condition of such postponement, that he will not invoke the statute of limitations or accept a pardon to avoid trial and possible conviction once he is no longer in office. This seems to me the very least that the American legal system should ensure whenever the crime with which the president is charged goes to the very legitimacy of his role as leader of the government and head of state.
 


A senior Justice Department ethics official concluded acting attorney general Matthew G. Whitaker should recuse from overseeing special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s probe examining President Trump, but advisers to Whitaker recommended the opposite and he has no plans to step aside, according to people familiar with the matter.

The latest account of what happened underscores the high stakes and deep distrust — within Congress and in some corners of the Justice Department — surrounding Whitaker’s appointment to become the nation’s top law enforcement official until the Senate votes on the nomination of William P. Barr to take the job. Earlier in the day, a different official, who spoke on the condition they not be named, said ethics officials had advised Whitaker need not step aside, only to retract that account hours later.
 




*Administration Considering Substantial Reduction of Troops in Afghanistan

*Drawdown Could Begin in Several Weeks, Officials Say

*Word of Troop Cut Comes a Day After Syria Withdrawal Order

*U.S. Currently Has More Than 14,000 Troops in Afghanistan
 


Statistically speaking, given how long the economy has been growing, it’s overdue — and the eventual collapse may bear Trump’s fingerprints. After all, his new trade barriers have lifted manufacturing costs, closed off markets and clouded the future for American firms with global supply chains. Economists say Trump’s trade war is the biggest threat to the U.S. economy in 2019. In loonier moments, the president has also threatened to default on our debt, ramp up the printing press, reinstatethe gold standard or deport all 11 million undocumented immigrants. Some of those policies would ignite not just a recession but an immediate, global financial crisis.

Or perhaps the contraction will follow some non-Trump-related catastrophe, like an oil shock or a wave of defaults in the growingleveraged loan market. It’s often impossible to ascribe blame accurately.

Yet there’s one thing we can expect with a fair amount of conviction: Even if Trump isn’t the direct cause of the next recession, he’s likely to make it so, so much worse.
 
Someone didn’t agree with the Syria decision … A day after rejecting his advice on Syria, Trump announces that Jim Mattis is out as secretary of defense as of February. We’re all gonna die ...

 
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Someone didn’t agree with the Syria decision … A day after rejecting his advice on Syria, Trump announces that Jim Mattis is out as secretary of defense as of February. We’re all gonna die ...





President Trump’s decision to abruptly withdraw troops from Syria is a clear rebuke to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, the last remaining member of a retinue of military men Trump once fondly called “my generals.”

Mattis had argued that the counterterrorism mission in Syria is not over and that the small U.S. presence in Syria should remain, said current and former U.S. officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share internal policy discussions.

The Pentagon chief also had tried to explain to Trump that there would be more chaos in the region and future problems for the United States if the troops leave, they said.

On Wednesday, it became clear Trump was brushing aside his defense secretary’s advice.
 
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