Trump Timeline ... Trumpocalypse



President Trump said Sunday that special counsel Robert S. Mueller III should not testify before Congress, reversing course from his previous position that the decision is up to Attorney General William P. Barr.

“Bob Mueller should not testify,” Trump said in an afternoon tweet. “No redos for the Dems!”

Trump also insisted that Mueller’s 448-page report found “no collusion” and “no obstruction,” overstating the conclusions of the two-year investigation.

In the report, Mueller’s team wrote that while the investigation established that the Trump campaign “expected it would benefit electorally from” information stolen in Russia-backed efforts, it “did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.”

Mueller also https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/attorney-general-to-provide-overview-of-mueller-report-at-news-conference-before-its-release/2019/04/17/8dcc9440-54b9-11e9-814f-e2f46684196e_story.html?utm_term=.80fb211420ed (found 10 “episodes”) of potential obstruction of justice but ultimately concluded that it was not his decision to determine whether Trump broke the law.

Trump’s Sunday tweet marks a shift from what he said Friday on the matter during an exchange with reporters in the Oval Office. Asked then whether Mueller should testify before Congress and whether he’d like to see the special counsel do so, Trump replied, “I don’t know. That’s up to our attorney general, who I think has done a fantastic job.”

Barr https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/barr-under-fire-for-news-conference-that-was-a-boon-for-trump-and-often-utilized-one-of-his-preferred-terms/2019/04/18/fc349e06-6214-11e9-9412-daf3d2e67c6d_story.html?utm_term=.d24ebb55d321 (said) at a news conference last month — and reiterated during his testimony last week before the Senate Judiciary Committee — that he has no objection to Mueller testifying.

Trump’s reversal came hours after a key member of the House Judiciary Committee said that the panel has proposed a date of May 15 for Mueller to testify but that no agreement has been reached yet.
 


President Trump tweeted on Sunday that tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods will be raised from 10% to 25% on Friday, as trade talks between the U.S. and China progress "too slowly."

For 10 months, China has been paying Tariffs to the USA of 25% on 50 Billion Dollars of High Tech, and 10% on 200 Billion Dollars of other goods. These payments are partially responsible for our great economic results. The 10% will go up to 25% on Friday. 325 Billions Dollars of additional goods sent to us by China remain untaxed, but will be shortly, at a rate of 25%. The Tariffs paid to the USA have had little impact on product cost, mostly borne by China. The Trade Deal with China continues, but too slowly, as they attempt to renegotiate. No!

The backdrop: In February, U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer told Congress that the U.S. had temporarily dropped its plans to raise the tariff rate to 25%, as the two sides inched closer to striking a deal.
  • Reality check: Trump has repeatedly claimed that tariffs have caused China to pay billions of dollars to the U.S. treasury. This is incorrect. The tariffs are paid by U.S. importers of affected Chinese goods, not by China's government or by Chinese companies. Importers then either raise costs on consumers, lower their own profit margins or both.
Driving the news: Chinese Vice Premier Liu He — along with a 100+ person delegation — will be in Washington on Wednesday, per the https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/as-china-trade-talks-race-to-finish-trump-may-settle-for-less/2019/05/02/df906290-6d12-11e9-be3a-33217240a539_story.html?utm_term=.143b16fd2972 (Washington Post), for another round of trade talks. Sources have told CNBC that a trade deal could possibly come as soon as Friday, a day after the latest numbers on the U.S. trade deficit are released, though Trump's latest tweets suggest otherwise.


 


President Trump tweeted on Sunday that tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods will be raised from 10% to 25% on Friday, as trade talks between the U.S. and China progress "too slowly."

For 10 months, China has been paying Tariffs to the USA of 25% on 50 Billion Dollars of High Tech, and 10% on 200 Billion Dollars of other goods. These payments are partially responsible for our great economic results. The 10% will go up to 25% on Friday. 325 Billions Dollars of additional goods sent to us by China remain untaxed, but will be shortly, at a rate of 25%. The Tariffs paid to the USA have had little impact on product cost, mostly borne by China. The Trade Deal with China continues, but too slowly, as they attempt to renegotiate. No!

The backdrop: In February, U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer told Congress that the U.S. had temporarily dropped its plans to raise the tariff rate to 25%, as the two sides inched closer to striking a deal.
  • Reality check: Trump has repeatedly claimed that tariffs have caused China to pay billions of dollars to the U.S. treasury. This is incorrect. The tariffs are paid by U.S. importers of affected Chinese goods, not by China's government or by Chinese companies. Importers then either raise costs on consumers, lower their own profit margins or both.
Driving the news: Chinese Vice Premier Liu He — along with a 100+ person delegation — will be in Washington on Wednesday, per the https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/as-china-trade-talks-race-to-finish-trump-may-settle-for-less/2019/05/02/df906290-6d12-11e9-be3a-33217240a539_story.html?utm_term=.143b16fd2972 (Washington Post), for another round of trade talks. Sources have told CNBC that a trade deal could possibly come as soon as Friday, a day after the latest numbers on the U.S. trade deficit are released, though Trump's latest tweets suggest otherwise.


 
THANKS, OBAMA
Thanks, Obama

Have you talked to a Trump sycophant? Have you ever talked to one who hasn’t said, “But Obama?” No, you haven’t. According to the cultists, Obama was a failed president who left a disaster for Donald Trump to clean up. Yet, despite all of Obama’s failures, the biggest accomplishments they hand to Trump actually belong to Obama. I mean, Obama couldn’t have been that bad if you gotta steal his credit for Trump.

One of my conservative colleagues spent eight years calling Obama the most “divisive president in American history” and accusing his administration of not being transparent. This same guy has never mentioned Trump’s constant Twitter attacks on the most mundane and petty stuff, or his inciting violence from his followers. He’s never mentioned Trump’s lack of transparency when it comes to his taxes, refusing to testify to Robert Mueller, and now preventing members of his administration from testifying. So, it shouldn’t be a surprise that this guy spent the majority of the Obama era saying his economy was the “worst economic recovery ever,” while calling today’s economy an “economic miracle.” The real miracle is that these people’s faces don’t warp like Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ from constantly fighting to keep them straight.

Trump sycophants only seem to remember “if you like your doctor,” Fast and Furious, and the IRS scandal from the Obama administration. They don’t recall that we were in one of the worst recessions in American history when Obama entered the White House in 2009. The nation lost 3.6 million jobs during Bush’s last year in office and over five million in Obama’s first. During his second year, Obama added over a million jobs and for his remaining six, he added over two million each year.

Two million jobs added per year for six years straight is a trend. Trump has also added two million each of his two years, though slightly less than Obama. That’s eight years of constant growth. But, the cultists want to give all the credit to the guy who inherited a trend. They’re ignoring the six and praising the two. Republicans are literally giving credit to an old rich white guy for the job done by a black man.

Trump promised 25 million new jobs over ten years if he was elected. That’s actually an easy number to reach if the trend started under Obama continues. The economy was already adding jobs when Trump made that promise, so basically, he promised to inherit and take credit for Obama’s success.

We are still in a booming economy because of Obama. The economy is so strong that even Donald Trump, who doesn’t understand anything, hasn’t messed it up yet.

Donald Trump doesn’t understand tariffs are taxes. He believes that money from increased tariffs paid for by Americans and funding his racist border wall is somehow Mexico paying for the wall.

He started a trade war with China that hurt America’s farmers. He gave the farmers nearly $8 billion in a bailout to help them during his trade war with China, which is money borrowed from…wait for it…China. Trump is borrowing money from China to pay farmers to not sell their crops to China.

He promised more coal mines would open. Instead, more are closing.

Gas prices are rising.

He gave permanent tax cuts to the rich and itty, bitty temporary tax cuts to the middle class that has increased the deficit to over $900 billion.

Have you noticed Republicans, who are always warning us about Democratic spending, are always the ones who do the most spending? Have you noticed that Republicans screw the economy while Democrats repair it? Public debt went down under Clinton, Carter, Johnson, Kennedy, and Truman, while it went up under our last four Republican presidents, George W. Bush, George H.W. Bush, Reagan, and Ford. Our current Republican president is on track to continue that tradition. Debt is something Republicans only warn us about when a Democrat is in the White House.

Debt did decrease under Eisenhower and Nixon. Trump is no Ike, firstly because the majority of the country doesn’t like Trump. He’s only like Nixon when it comes to lies and corruption. Nixon, however, understood stuff like economics and government spending. Trump believes Canadian cheese is a threat to national security.

I want to see Trump defeated in 2020 but I also want the economy to continue the trend Obama started. Trump should not be given credit for inheriting a booming economy. But, if Trump continues his policies, the only credit he’ll receive during the next election will be for a faltering, maybe crashing economy. There is only so much in the area of stupid actions this economy can take. This is a man who fired the Chairman of the Federal Reserve because he thought she was too short.

Obama was criticized for saying, “You didn’t build that.” In the case of Trump and the economy, the GDP, and jobs, he’s right. Trump didn’t build that. This is still Obama’s economy. He cleaned up after a Republican and in the future, another Democrat will be cleaning up after Trump, and Republicans will be saying, “Worst economic recovery ever.”

Obama gave left us in great shape to deal with an impending disaster like Trump. And for that, thanks, Obama.

cjones05082019.jpg
 


Now, with President Trump and William Barr, his attorney general, refusing to cooperate with congressional investigations, the Democrats in the House should take yet another lesson from Watergate. They are reportedly already preparing impeachment articles on obstruction of justice; they should add failure to comply with Congress to the list.

...

President Trump has taken a similar approach to Nixon’s, declaring that the Mueller report should mean the end of any related congressional investigations, and that he would defy any subpoena that came from them. In response, congressional leaders have said they would take the matter to court.

That’s a good thing to do — to have the courts reaffirm what is already clear in the law — and Congress will probably win. But a court case could take months to conclude, playing into the president’s apparent strategy of running out the clock.

Yet Mr. Trump’s defiance can, in and of itself, form the basis for an additional impeachment article — a fact that Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House, recognized on Thursday. “Ignoring subpoenas of Congress, not honoring subpoenas of Congress — that was Article III of the Nixon impeachment,” she said.
 
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