***Official Political Discussion Thread***

[Rootin4EverybodyBlack]

You have to wonder what the endgame is. Bannon and friends had very lofty goals coming in and they have both the House and the Senate. But, up until now, they've accomplished almost nothing. They've been little to no consensus with Republicans and they've galvanized opposition among all Democrats and even some Republicans.

Their appointees are dropping like flies and doubts over Russia infiltration, basic competence, mental health, and human decency are growing with each passing day. If trump's presidency was being traded on the stock market, it would be crashing hard.

And it's only June.

There's no sign that the trajectory will change anytime soon. Even if something drastic occurs (war, terrorist attack, etc.) it's not at all clear that it would help trump's popularity in any way. If anything, his opposition would grow even stronger because his incapacity for being magnanimous or graceful is exposed whenever the heat is on (unlike even George Bush, who became more popular in such moments).

On top of this, pretty much all the major institutions of this country (intelligence agencies, free press, the judiciary, even major corporations) are ready to turn on trump, if they haven't already. His only lifelines remaining are Russia (who we all know will turn on him on a whim whenever they're done with him) and da deplorables (who are fairly powerless and marginalized already).

Anyway, pass me the popcorn.

I don't think they have an end game, it's really just as messy as it looks. People like KKK Sessions probably signed on thinking Trump's antics were just for the campaign and he'd become more Presidential in order to get their racist agenda through. But that didn't happen and, in some ways, Trump is even worse now. People are realizing he's not going to change (and I'm sure they've urged him to) and everything is going to eventually sink. If they stay on, they go down with the ship and burn up their political careers in the process.

Only question now is extra butter or kettle corn...

 

[Belgium]

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/336683-eric-trump-dems-not-even-people
Eric Trump has simply never seen hatred like this. There's just no morals with these nasty liberals

Eric Trump: Dems ‘not even people’

President Trump’s son Eric Trump on Tuesday said Democrats are “not even people” to him after their obstruction of his father’s agenda.

“I’ve never seen hatred like this,” he said on Fox News’s “Hannity” Tuesday night. “To me, they’re not even people. It’s so, so sad. Morality’s just gone, morals have flown out the window and we deserve so much better than this as a country."

“You see the Democratic Party, they’re imploding. They’re imploding. They became obstructionists because they have no message of their own.”


Trump additionally criticized the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) leadership without directly naming Chairman Tom Perez.

“You see the head of the DNC, who is a total whack job,” he told host Sean Hannity. “There’s no leadership there.”

“They lost the [2016 presidential] election that they should have won because they spent seven times the amount of money that my father spent.”

President Trump’s son Eric Trump on Tuesday said Democrats are “not even people” to him after their obstruction of his father’s agenda.

“I’ve never seen hatred like this,” he said on Fox News’s “Hannity” Tuesday night. “To me, they’re not even people. It’s so, so sad. Morality’s just gone, morals have flown out the window and we deserve so much better than this as a country."

“You see the Democratic Party, they’re imploding. They’re imploding. They became obstructionists because they have no message of their own.”


Trump additionally criticized the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) leadership without directly naming Chairman Tom Perez.

“You see the head of the DNC, who is a total whack job,” he told host Sean Hannity. “There’s no leadership there.”

“They lost the [2016 presidential] election that they should have won because they spent seven times the amount of money that my father spent.”


Democrats have tried capitalizing on liberal dissatisfaction with Trump’s administration and its agenda despite Republicans controlling the White House and both chambers of Congress.

Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) has emerged as a vocal critic of Trump and is reportedly readying the articles of impeachment that mark the first official step of any congressional bid to remove a sitting president.

Green’s criticisms focus on Trump’s controversial firing of former FBI Director James Comey last month amid the bureau’s probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential race.

Trump reportedly urged Comey to halt the investigation of his former national security adviser Michael Flynn ahead of his ouster.

The president’s decision roiled Washington as the FBI’s probe includes possible collusion between Russia and Trump’s campaign.

 

[rolaholic]

You guys seen what's going on in Tehran? ISIS attacked their parliament

So let me get the last week's events straight,Qatars Emir/Monarch met with Iran foreign minister leading gulf Arab states, led by Saudi Arabia, to cut ties with them and imply threats.

Now a few days later we have what seems to be the first major ISIS attack on Iranian soil...coincidence?

The cynic in me thinks that there are rarely ever coincidences in geopolitics...

 

[rillo561]

Trump's family talking about morals

 

[rolaholic]

@peterajacobs: CLAPPER: Watergate 'pales' in comparison to Trump's alleged ties to Russia https://t.co/rrp6Xz28Us https://t.co/EfDB9Dh0KI

Lawd...

 

[EddieDoyers]

You guys seen what's going on in Tehran? ISIS attacked their parliament

So let me get the last week's events straight,Qatars Emir/Monarch met with Iran foreign minister leading gulf Arab states, led by Saudi Arabia, to cut ties with them and imply threats.

Now a few days later we have what seems to be the first major ISIS attack on Iranian soil...coincidence?

The cynic in me thinks that there are rarely ever coincidences in geopolitics...

I mean the US government helped fund ISIS at one point...im going to put on my tinfoil hat and say that we are controlling them right now.

 

[Bobby Layne]

 

You guys seen what's going on in Tehran? ISIS attacked their parliament

So let me get the last week's events straight,Qatars Emir/Monarch met with Iran foreign minister leading gulf Arab states, led by Saudi Arabia, to cut ties with them and imply threats.

Now a few days later we have what seems to be the first major ISIS attack on Iranian soil...coincidence?

The cynic in me thinks that there are rarely ever coincidences in geopolitics...

I mean the US government helped fund ISIS at one point...im going to put on my tinfoil hat and say that we are controlling them right now.

The CIA is arming them in Syria again. 

 

[whywesteppin]

i don't think much of the funding.

i do think it's possible that international actors are "using" Isis (Syrian government being one example) in some ways.

and the timing of this attack is definitely fishy.

 

[Bobby Layne]

i don't think much of the funding.

i do think it's possible that international actors are "using" Isis (Syrian government being one example) in some ways.

and the timing of this attack is definitely fishy.

How is a Alawite led government using a Sunni Supremacist group that wants to genocide them?

 

[aepps20]

Y'all Mayor was da OG orange guy with a dapper hairdo B

Mayor White epitomized DAPPER B.

 

[gry60]

.

Da Disrespk Da LIBBIES ARE SHOWING DA DON IS UNPRECEDENTED B. We always treated OBUMMER with respek as he RUINED my hometown of Bluffington. When Da Honker Burger left town and Skeeter moved away Da JOBS left B.

Betsy DeVos is disappointed B. It is UNPRESIDENTED

 

[whywesteppin]

i don't think much of the funding.


i do think it's possible that international actors are "using" Isis (Syrian government being one example) in some ways.


and the timing of this attack is definitely fishy.

How is a Alawite led government using a Sunni Supremacist group that wants to genocide them?

The latest argument I heard (tinfoil hat on) was that the Arab Spring was too moderate and sympathetic, so they wanted Isis to become the face of it so that they could justify their brutal crackdown of it.

I don't know how much of it I buy it myself. The resistance in Syria is not as saintly as some in the West dream it to be. But Assad is pretty ******* dirty. He is more heinous than even Putin. So I wouldn't put it past him, and there is a history (predating the Arab Spring) of the Syrian government facilitating Sunni terrorists in other countries. Whether they would do so in their own country, I don't know.

 

[aepps20]

.
Betsy DeVos is disappointed B. It is UNPRESIDENTED

EXCELLENT Catch B. I really let DeVos Bae down with that one. As u can tell my high school education was way BEFORE DeVos Bae and her AMAZING work.

 

[Belgium]

Dapper Don has announced his pick for the FBI director. A former DOJ official who recently served as Chris Christie's personal lawyer in the bridge scandal.

https://www.apnews.com/11248f84eb7a...te-ex-Justice-Department-official-to-lead-FBI

 
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced his pick for FBI director — a former Justice Department official who served as New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s personal lawyer during the George Washington Bridge lane-closing investigation.

Trump’s early morning two-sentence tweet that he intends to nominate lawyer Christopher Wray came one day before the FBI director that Trump fired last month, James Comey, was to testify in public on Capitol Hill for the first time since his dismissal.

Trump called Wray “a man of impeccable credentials” and offered no more information about the selection, ending the tweet by saying, “Details to follow.”

Wray served in a leadership role in the George W. Bush Justice Department, rising to head the criminal division and overseeing investigations into corporate fraud, during the time when Comey was deputy attorney general. Wray took charge of a task force of prosecutors and FBI agents created to investigate the Enron scandal.

With a strong law enforcement background, Wray is a traditional choice for the job. Trump had entertained current and former politicians for the role, including former Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman. Though favored by Trump, Lieberman would have faced a challenging confirmation process; he pulled his name from consideration.

Comey, during his appearance before the Senate intelligence committee, is expected to describe his encounters with Trump in the weeks before his firing May 9. Comey could offer new details regarding discussions with Trump about the federal investigation into Russia’s election meddling and possible coordination with the Trump campaign.

The White House and its allies have been looking for ways to offset that potentially damaging testimony and have been working on strategies aimed at undermining Comey’s credibility.

Wray works in private practice for the King & Spalding law firm. He represented Republican Christie in the lane-closing investigation, in which two former Christie aides were convicted of plotting to close bridge lanes to punish a Democratic mayor who wouldn’t endorse Christie.

Christie and Wray met when Christie was the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey in the Bush administration. Christie said at a news conference last week that he worked together with Wray “a lot.”

“I have the utmost confidence in Chris. He’s an outstanding lawyer. He has absolute integrity and honesty, and I think that the president certainly would not be making a mistake if he asked Chris Wray to be FBI director,” Christie said.

Christie, who has informally advised Trump, was not charged in the bridge case.

One of the questions hanging over Christie was about a dozen text messages he exchanged with a former staffer during legislative testimony by officials from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which manages the bridge, in 2013.

It’s not known what was in those messages and a judge rejected defense attorneys’ attempt to subpoena the phone last summer. After that ruling, Christie’s office revealed that Wray had the phone.

Christie had previously said he “gave it to the government” a while earlier, but the U.S. attorney’s office said it never had the phone.

The law firm that Christie’s administration hired to review the scandal said it “returned” the phone after reviewing its contents in response to a government subpoena.

 

[aepps20]

Ok Choice from Da Don. BARSON DESERVED DA NOD BUT IT IS WHAT IT IS.

 

[elpablo21]

Dapper Don has announced his pick for the FBI director. A former DOJ official who recently served as Chris Christie's personal lawyer in the bridge scandal.
https://www.apnews.com/11248f84eb7a...te-ex-Justice-Department-official-to-lead-FBI

Saw that the firm he works for also oversees Trump's trust. heh

 

[ksteezy]

When is Coney set to testify? I need to set up my DVR

 

[Belgium]

Hearing currently going on about the FISA system

https://www.c-span.org/video/?42945...ity-officials-testify-russia-probe-fisa&live=

Sen. Mark Warner (D) pressured DNI Coats to answer if Trump or anyone else in the administration has pressured him but gave a non-conclusive answer.

He said an open hearing was not the place to discuss that after Warner repeated that the American people deserve to know more. His answer was that he was not directed or felt pressured by anyone in the administration. Why wouldn't he just say no though? And why even bring up that he doesn't feel that question should be discussed in an open setting?

Edit: Senator Wyden (D) asked Coats about the WaPo report released earlier and his previous testimony, asking which of the 2 was accurate since apparently they were conflicting. Coats' answer that he would not answer that in an open setting.

The report in question:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...879f14-4ace-11e7-9669-250d0b15f83b_story.html

Edit 2: Seems like a whole lot of stonewalling going on here. In terms of actual information in the form of direct answers you're not getting much but I would recommend watching this hearing. There was a question earlier regarding taking notes about conversations with the president or being aware of any such notes being taken. Coats immediately answered that he does not take notes. The others took the position that they would not answer the question.

Edit 3: Coats is doing some serious stonewalling right now. The questions are generally hard hitting but they're not getting any substantial answers from anyone, certainly not Coats.

Also, senator Heinrich just told deputy AG Rosenstein that "you're filibustering better than most of my colleagues" 

 

 

[elpablo21]

They're stiff arming any questions related to intervening of the investigation and conversations/notes with Trump

 

[IATT]

 

[HIM]

I was gonna say you guys should probably chill on the ridiculous "da dapper don" posts but at least it's an improvement from the dude saying he wishes he was Ivanka so he could get ****** by Trump all night.

When is Coney set to testify? I need to set up my DVR

Thursday, 9:45 eastern

 

[Belgium]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...e-1120a:homepage/story&utm_term=.f8626ae630d4

 
Two of the nation’s top intelligence officials said in a hearing Wednesday they would not discuss specifics of private conversations with President Trump, declining to say whether they had been asked to push back against an FBI probe into possible coordination between his campaign and the Russian government.

Testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats refused to say whether it was true, as The Washington Post reported  Tuesday, that Trump asked Coats if he could reach out to then-FBI Director James B. Comey and dissuade him from pursuing the Flynn matter.

“I don’t believe it’s appropriate for me to address that in a public session,’’ Coats said. “I don’t think this is the appropriate venue to do this in.’’

He added: “I have never felt pressure to intervene or interfere in any way … in an ongoing investigation.’’

Similarly, National Security Agency Director Michael S. Rogers declined to directly answer Sen. Mark R. Warner’s (D-Va) question of whether Trump sought his aid in downplaying the investigation. The Post last month reported  Trump had appealed to Rogers, if he could, to publicly deny the existence of any evidence of collusion during the 2016 election.

“I’m not going to discuss the specifics of any conversations with the president of the United States,” Rogers said.

Instead, he said that in the three years he has headed the NSA, he has “never been directed to do anything that I believe to be illegal, immoral” or inappropriate. And, he added, “I do not recall having been pressured to do so.”

Warner said he was “disappointed” with the officials’ answers. He told Rogers the committee had “facts “ that other individuals were aware of his conversation with Trump and that a memo had been written about it.

Coats told associates in March that Trump asked him if he could intervene with Comey to get the bureau to back off its focus on former national security adviser Michael Flynn in its Russia probe, according to officials.

The conversations with Coats and Rogers took place in the wake of Comey testifying on March 20 that the FBI was investigating possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russian operatives.

 

[Belgium]

Wow at this stonewalling 

 This is quite ridiculous

Senator King pressured what the legal basis is for refusing to answer these questions in this setting. The answer: "I am not sure I have a legal basis" 

 

[noskey]

Da rookie rustie don't kno dat da hood loves Dapper Don
Fake news and da latte sippin liberals are relegated to da dust bin b
I just copped me da hemi, da Paris citizens can kick rocks b
My lanepower is so great B, da coal smells like da espresso coffee every morning b

You seeing da true Americans standing up to these nasty libby's in DC? Every red, white, and blue blooded COMRADE should applaud these men for confirming without da shadow of a doubt that Dapper Don Juan never, NEVER, betrayed the trust of his people, da COOOAAAAALLLL train Americans [emoji]128132[/emoji][emoji]128097[/emoji][emoji]128133[/emoji]
I done ****** up tho and just bought a fuel efficient German car bros. Da passing power ain't da Hemi! Wat do bros?? How do I redeem myself for Comrade Presidente Drumpf?!

 

[whywesteppin]

Da rookie rustie don't kno dat da hood loves Dapper Don
Fake news and da latte sippin liberals are relegated to da dust bin b
I just copped me da hemi, da Paris citizens can kick rocks b
My lanepower is so great B, da coal smells like da espresso coffee every morning b

You seeing da true Americans standing up to these nasty libby's in DC? Every red, white, and blue blooded COMRADE should applaud these men for confirming without da shadow of a doubt that Dapper Don Juan never, NEVER, betrayed the trust of his people, da COOOAAAAALLLL train Americans [emoji]128132[/emoji][emoji]128097[/emoji][emoji]128133[/emoji]
I done ****** up tho and just bought a fuel efficient German car bros. Da passing power ain't da Hemi! Wat do bros?? How do I redeem myself for Comrade Presidente Drumpf?!

I am severely disappointed in you, Comrade Noskey. I can only imagine how disappointed Brother Barson will be on hearing this news.

Take corrective action immediately. I realize you could not afford da hemi with your current finances, on account of da jewelry and da shoes you have to buy. So I implore you instead to undertake plan B: purchase a coal-fired Lada now.

I realize we cannot all play multiverse 342D chess like da don but at least we can play da checkers.