The Former Trump Presidency Thread

[Holman]

A real star should play along and agree to play the inauguration, then stop halfway through a song and just start reading out a list of reasons Trump is unqualified to be president until they physically drag her off the stage.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

It seems odd that they would go after Katie Perry or Aretha Franklin, considering that both have played at big Democratic events. I'm sure Ted Nugent would be up for it, though....

[Max Peck]

A real star should play along and agree to play the inauguration, then stop halfway through a song and just start reading out a list of reasons Trump is unqualified to be president until they physically drag her off the stage.

Hmmm...

Then, just as it seems no-one in the music world harbours a secret ambition to play for the president elect, we bump into Matt Healy, lead singer of The 1975.

Yes, he says, he would sing at the inauguration… but on one condition.

"I'll do it if they give me cash up front," he says. "Then watch what would happen. It would be a riot."

So what's his price?

"What do I want? Well, he's got gold seatbelts in his plane - so at least a million quid."

Not to worry though, they've got it covered.

America's Got Talent runner-up Jackie Evancho will sing the national anthem at Donald Trump's inauguration.

The 16-year-old said she was "so excited" to be performing at the ceremony on 20 January. She finished second on the TV talent show in 2010.

Boris Epshteyn, director of communications for the Presidential Inaugural Committee, said she was "an inspiration for all Americans".

Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli and rapper Kanye West have also been rumoured.

West met the president-elect at Trump Tower in New York on Tuesday, but there has been no confirmation on whether the pair discussed the inauguration.

[LordMortis]

I hear he's getting pop star, Anna Semenovich

[El Guapo]

Runner up! Looks like Trump can't attract a winner. Sad!

[Pyperkub]

Likely the hacked the RNC? Been reading fake news again?

No one has show a shred of evidence to support that.

here you go

A leak by "senior administration officials" is fake until they go on the record and specify what they mean. Do they mean some RNC officials got their G-mail accounts hacked or something. That I can believe, but the party e-mail server was looked at and nothing was found. If they have something that says otherwise there is no reason to be so vague and secretive about it.

What, are you only capable of reading pieces of an article?

Tom Del Beccaro, ex-chairman of the California Republican Party, told TSG that Smartech admitted being hacked. The firm’s disclosure came several months ago, not long after DC Leaks published its portfolio of stolen GOP e-mails. Del Beccaro, who unsuccessfully ran this year for the Senate seat being vacated by Barbara Boxer, contracted with the firm to host his campaign’s web site and e-mail server.

Since the 2008 federal election cycle, Smartech has been paid more than $11 million by the Republican National Committee for a wide variety of tech services, including web hosting and call centers. During the final four months of the 2016 campaign, the RNC paid Smartech nearly $400,000 for “data services,” Federal Election Commission records show. In a front-page testimonial on the Airnet web site, the GOP enthuses that the company has been “an all-encompassing intelligent technology provider and knowledge resource for the RNC.”...

...But while Smartech has not hosted the gop.com web site for more than two years, the company has continuously provided the RNC with its e-mail service, records show.

At Smartech, the RNC’s e-mail server is dubbed “barracuda1.” The same mail server, records show, was used by many of the Republican candidates (McCain, Graham, Hurt, Del Beccaro, former Rep. Michele Bachmann) and state parties (Illinois, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Wyoming) whose e-mail accounts were compromised and had some of their correspondence posted to DC Leaks.

After becoming aware of the hacking, “barracuda1” clients like McCain, Graham, and Hurt have relocated their campaign e-mail accounts from Smartech. Notably, while some prominent Republicans have shied from linking Russia to the DNC and Clinton campaign hacking, McCain and Graham have shown no such hesitance. McCain has said that, “it’s clear the Russians interfered” in the presidential election. In return for meddling in U.S. affairs, Graham announced, “I’m going after Russia in every way you can go after Russia...I want Putin personally to pay a price.”

Looks like a named source to me...

[Kraken]

Too bad he stiffed those little Sparkle Motion girls from the campaign now that he needs them.

[Rip]

Likely the hacked the RNC? Been reading fake news again?

No one has show a shred of evidence to support that.

here you go

A leak by "senior administration officials" is fake until they go on the record and specify what they mean. Do they mean some RNC officials got their G-mail accounts hacked or something. That I can believe, but the party e-mail server was looked at and nothing was found. If they have something that says otherwise there is no reason to be so vague and secretive about it.

What, are you only capable of reading pieces of an article?

Tom Del Beccaro, ex-chairman of the California Republican Party, told TSG that Smartech admitted being hacked. The firm’s disclosure came several months ago, not long after DC Leaks published its portfolio of stolen GOP e-mails. Del Beccaro, who unsuccessfully ran this year for the Senate seat being vacated by Barbara Boxer, contracted with the firm to host his campaign’s web site and e-mail server.

Since the 2008 federal election cycle, Smartech has been paid more than $11 million by the Republican National Committee for a wide variety of tech services, including web hosting and call centers. During the final four months of the 2016 campaign, the RNC paid Smartech nearly $400,000 for “data services,” Federal Election Commission records show. In a front-page testimonial on the Airnet web site, the GOP enthuses that the company has been “an all-encompassing intelligent technology provider and knowledge resource for the RNC.”...

...But while Smartech has not hosted the gop.com web site for more than two years, the company has continuously provided the RNC with its e-mail service, records show.

At Smartech, the RNC’s e-mail server is dubbed “barracuda1.” The same mail server, records show, was used by many of the Republican candidates (McCain, Graham, Hurt, Del Beccaro, former Rep. Michele Bachmann) and state parties (Illinois, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Wyoming) whose e-mail accounts were compromised and had some of their correspondence posted to DC Leaks.

After becoming aware of the hacking, “barracuda1” clients like McCain, Graham, and Hurt have relocated their campaign e-mail accounts from Smartech. Notably, while some prominent Republicans have shied from linking Russia to the DNC and Clinton campaign hacking, McCain and Graham have shown no such hesitance. McCain has said that, “it’s clear the Russians interfered” in the presidential election. In return for meddling in U.S. affairs, Graham announced, “I’m going after Russia in every way you can go after Russia...I want Putin personally to pay a price.”

Looks like a named source to me...

The chair of the House homeland security committee said he “misspoke” Wednesday evening when he intimated during an interview on CNN that the Republican National Committee’s computer network had been hacked.

“I misspoke by asserting that the RNC was hacked,” Texas Republican Mike McCaul said in a statement. “What I had intended to say was that in addition to the DNC hack, Republican political operatives have also been hacked.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/201 ... ork-hacked

[The Meal]

Too bad he stiffed those little Sparkle Motion girls from the campaign now that he needs them.

[Pyperkub]

Likely the hacked the RNC? Been reading fake news again?

No one has show a shred of evidence to support that.

here you go

A leak by "senior administration officials" is fake until they go on the record and specify what they mean. Do they mean some RNC officials got their G-mail accounts hacked or something. That I can believe, but the party e-mail server was looked at and nothing was found. If they have something that says otherwise there is no reason to be so vague and secretive about it.

What, are you only capable of reading pieces of an article?

Tom Del Beccaro, ex-chairman of the California Republican Party, told TSG that Smartech admitted being hacked. The firm’s disclosure came several months ago, not long after DC Leaks published its portfolio of stolen GOP e-mails. Del Beccaro, who unsuccessfully ran this year for the Senate seat being vacated by Barbara Boxer, contracted with the firm to host his campaign’s web site and e-mail server.

Since the 2008 federal election cycle, Smartech has been paid more than $11 million by the Republican National Committee for a wide variety of tech services, including web hosting and call centers. During the final four months of the 2016 campaign, the RNC paid Smartech nearly $400,000 for “data services,” Federal Election Commission records show. In a front-page testimonial on the Airnet web site, the GOP enthuses that the company has been “an all-encompassing intelligent technology provider and knowledge resource for the RNC.”...

...But while Smartech has not hosted the gop.com web site for more than two years, the company has continuously provided the RNC with its e-mail service, records show.

At Smartech, the RNC’s e-mail server is dubbed “barracuda1.” The same mail server, records show, was used by many of the Republican candidates (McCain, Graham, Hurt, Del Beccaro, former Rep. Michele Bachmann) and state parties (Illinois, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Wyoming) whose e-mail accounts were compromised and had some of their correspondence posted to DC Leaks.

After becoming aware of the hacking, “barracuda1” clients like McCain, Graham, and Hurt have relocated their campaign e-mail accounts from Smartech. Notably, while some prominent Republicans have shied from linking Russia to the DNC and Clinton campaign hacking, McCain and Graham have shown no such hesitance. McCain has said that, “it’s clear the Russians interfered” in the presidential election. In return for meddling in U.S. affairs, Graham announced, “I’m going after Russia in every way you can go after Russia...I want Putin personally to pay a price.”

Looks like a named source to me...

The chair of the House homeland security committee said he “misspoke” Wednesday evening when he intimated during an interview on CNN that the Republican National Committee’s computer network had been hacked.

“I misspoke by asserting that the RNC was hacked,” Texas Republican Mike McCaul said in a statement. “What I had intended to say was that in addition to the DNC hack, Republican political operatives have also been hacked.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/201 ... ork-hacked

That's not evidence (per your own admission).

[malchior]

I don't understand this line whether the CIA or FBI or whomever has better evidence personally. It is like trying to put a puzzle together but you aren't allowed to have most of the pieces in the center. The big picture is that an intelligence agency with evidence it will understandably keep secret believes that a foreign power materially interfered in our election. That there are swaths of Republicans bending over backwards to dismiss it is outrageous*. It should be investigated. End of story.

*Sidenote: These are many of the same folks who investigated a single person's email server for years. This is obvious hypocrisy.

[Rip]

I don't understand this line whether the CIA or FBI or whomever has better evidence personally. It is like trying to put a puzzle together but you aren't allowed to have most of the pieces in the center. The big picture is that an intelligence agency with evidence it will understandably keep secret believes that a foreign power materially interfered in our election. That there are swaths of Republicans bending over backwards to dismiss it is outrageous*. It should be investigated. End of story.

*Sidenote: These are many of the same folks who investigated a single person's email server for years. This is obvious hypocrisy.

What on earth would lead you to believe it isn't being investigated? It is and has been under investigation for some time.

[LordMortis]

*Sidenote: These are many of the same folks who investigated a single person's email server for years. This is obvious hypocrisy.

And have demanded investigations against their evil democratic counterparts high and low for no matter then cost for the last 30 years. But now everything is a waste of time and tax payer dollars. I've long since been annoyed by the liberal satirical BENGHAZI mating call but it's beginning to sound really appropriate.

[Defiant]

This may explain why he can't untangle himself from his business ties

Not a business person, so I don't know if the logic is correct, but the document cited that his are operated through sole proprietorships is real.

[Defiant]

(Was that when the whole small fingers thing started?)

[Max Peck]

(Was that when the whole small fingers thing started?)

Yes. It always makes me chuckle that The Dumpster is only worried about the small fingers reference -- he seems totally OK with being labelled a vulgarian.

[Skinypupy]

Remind me, why is the President-Elect going after Vanity Fair now?

(I cannot fucking believe we're at a point where that question is even something I have to ask)

[Holman]

(Was that when the whole small fingers thing started?)

Yes. It always makes me chuckle that The Dumpster is only worried about the small fingers reference -- he seems totally OK with being labelled a vulgarian.

Speaking of this, I have an honest question (and one, I know, insignificant vs. the gravity of our political crisis):

Who lets Trump and his brand get away with looking like that?

I don't mean his physical unattractiveness; I mean his style. Most celebrities have people who help them with this. If it's not a dedicated "style consultant," it's at least a trusted barber or tailor or the personal assistant who manages the wardrobe and gets the $5,000 suits dry-cleaned. If nothing else, powerful people pay attention to what looks good because it's advantageous to look good, and they understand the advantage of having assistants with good taste.

Trump, with his insane dyed comb-over and baggy suits and spray-on tan and the cheesy faux-rococo gold-mirror layer that he slaps on everything, seems to be going it alone. His vanity is unparalleled, yet he dresses and styles his brand like someone not indifferent to appearances but cluelessly, garishly wrong about them. He obviously works at it: the look of his hotels and pageants is awful, but awful in consistent ways. It's laid on thick. Trump clearly cares about looks since he references other peoples' constantly, yet he himself looks at all times like an expensive self-parody.

(Trump doesn't have the excuse that he's above all this, either. Bernie Sanders looks dumpy as hell, but Bernie Sanders hasn't spend decades selling a lifestyle and a look and putting his name on resort hotels and lines of clothing.)

Surely Trump isn't doing it all himself--if nothing else, he must have designers working on his architecture and buyers stocking his ballrooms. So why has no one told him? Why is it all so goddam tacky?

[El Guapo]

By the way, people in this thread might be interested in the Trump-themed Werewolf game starting up shortly. It is the biggest, most fantastic, gold-standard Werewolf game ever. Anyone who doesn't play in it is a loser. Sad!

[pr0ner]

Remind me, why is the President-Elect going after Vanity Fair now?

(I cannot fucking believe we're at a point where that question is even something I have to ask)

For trashing a restaurant in his hotel in DC.

[coopasonic]

Trump, with his insane dyed comb-over

Hides the baldness.

and baggy suits

Hides the fat.

and spray-on tan

Hides the god knows what.

and the cheesy faux-rococo gold-mirror layer that he slaps on everything

Hides the cheap materials or shoddy workmanship.

[Kraken]

Remind me, why is the President-Elect going after Vanity Fair now?

(I cannot fucking believe we're at a point where that question is even something I have to ask)

It is consistent with his threatened crackdown on the media in general. If he can't intimidate them in one fell swoop, he'll go after them individually. I expect the persecution will be more systematic after he takes office...but knowing Trump, that still won't quiet the personal attacks, because everything is personal to him.

[tgb]

I first read the "short-fingered vulgarian" description in the late, great, Spy Magazine , but it's possible they took it from Vanity Fair.

[hepcat]

Carter was one of the founders of Spy. That's where it was coined by him.

[Brian]

Surely Trump isn't doing it all himself--if nothing else, he must have designers working on his architecture and buyers stocking his ballrooms. So why has no one told him? Why is it all so goddam tacky?

Everything about Trump has always made me think that he surrounds himself in imaginary opulence.

That is to say, what a child might imagine a rich person would be like. If you asked an eight year old boy to pretend what it would be like to be a billionaire, they would imagine things like gold plated toilets, fur rugs everywhere, the biggest and the brightest of everything. Never mind that it's all completely garish and gauche.

The problem is, outside of Trump and perhaps a few Arab Sheiks, nobody really goes in for that sort of thing.

So he's like a child pretending to be rich even though he actually* is rich.

*Allegedly

[Sepiche]

It is consistent with his threatened crackdown on the media in general. If he can't intimidate them in one fell swoop, he'll go after them individually. I expect the persecution will be more systematic after he takes office...but knowing Trump, that still won't quiet the personal attacks, because everything is personal to him.

He's also got his little Alt-Right troll army now. Any person or organization he singles out in a Tweet is in for a few weeks
of harassment/veiled death threats.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/c ... ck-threats

The president of Carrier's union started receiving threats after Donald Trump launched a Twitter attack going after the union leader for noting that Trump inflated the number of Carrier jobs he saved in Indiana.
...
“Nothing that says they’re gonna kill me, but, you know, you better keep your eye on your kids,” Jones said of the threats he's received. “We know what car you drive. Things along those lines.”

[Zarathud]

Trump is tacky. It's his brand and personal style.

[wonderpug]

and spray-on tan

Hides the god knows what.

chitinous scales?

[Laura]

Speaking of tackiness, I cry when I think of what the oval office will look like when he redecorates it....gold everywhere. Ivanka, save us! She hasn't had much influence on his hotels, though.

[Paingod]

I kind of wish Obama would bring in a Presidetial moving crew to take all the amazing things in the White House and hide them safely away in a mountain somewhere and then tell Trump "Hey, we clear the place out each time a new president comes in" just to preserve the dignity of those things. Not like Trump would know, right?

It just bothers me to think of what he'll do to "mark his territory" once he's in there. I'm also a little disturbed at how his wife isn't moving in, but his daughter (a great "piece of ass") is moving in.

[LordMortis]

FAKE!!!!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/whi ... b82feecff?

[Isgrimnur]

Vanity Fair, Aug 12, '15 by Bruce Feirstein

In 1988, Spy magazine described Donald Trump as “a short-fingered vulgarian.” The founding editors of the magazine, Graydon Carter and Kurt Andersen, recognized Trump for what he was: the id of New York City, writ large—a bombastic, self-aggrandizing, un–self-aware bully, with a curious relationship to the truth about his supposed wealth and business acumen. He wasn’t so much a Macy’s balloon, ripe for the targeting, as he was the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters, stomping on everything in his gold-plated path.
...
As I recall it (I was a contributing editor at Spy), Trump’s reaction to what Spy wrote—or articles that Spy planned to publish—was to threaten the magazine with lawsuits. The editors lived under the constant threat of litigation. In a gesture that seemed to indicate he had some self-awareness, and possibly even a sense of humor, he sent over a copy of his book, The Art of the Deal, with his hand outlined in bright gold on the cover, to prove that he wasn’t, in fact, short-fingered—but then added a note, promising, “If you hit me, I will hit you back 100 times harder.” Then, as now, he truly believed any press was good press, so long as he thought he had the last word.

[Enough]

Speaking of tackiness, I cry when I think of what the oval office will look like when he redecorates it....gold everywhere. Ivanka, save us! She hasn't had much influence on his hotels, though.

Trump makes developers in Dubai look like they have refined tastes.

[LordMortis]

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local ... 87625.html

Marching bands should be a safe and special place. Marching bands are very rude. Apologize!

[tgb]

Carter was one of the founders of Spy. That's where it was coined by him.

I suppose I should have read the body of the tweet.

That is to say, what a child might imagine a rich person would be like. If you asked an eight year old boy to pretend what it would be like to be a billionaire, they would imagine things like gold plated toilets, fur rugs everywhere, the biggest and the brightest of everything. Never mind that it's all completely garish and gauche.

I think we know who his interior designer is.

[Unagi]

That is to say, what a child might imagine a rich person would be like. If you asked an eight year old boy to pretend what it would be like to be a billionaire, they would imagine things like gold plated toilets, fur rugs everywhere, the biggest and the brightest of everything. Never mind that it's all completely garish and gauche.

Reminded me of this:

" Sam Harris said "Trump is a poor persons idea of a rich man."
I think this sentiment applies here too. Trump is a weak mans idea
of a strong man. Or in other words Trump is a Beta males idea of
an Alpha male.

Weak insecure people dream of being dictators, not democratic leaders.
They want to be obeyed, not respected. Trump is a thin skinned bully,
just like his supporters.

People like Trump, and his supporters, don't want to negotiate and earn
respect, they want to rule and be feared. These people are societal rejects
that dream of revenge against the society that increasingly disrespects them.
They HATE showing respect yet DEMAND respect at the same time.
It's a personality defect and Trump and his devoted all seem to have it. "

[Defiant]

Meanwhile...

To the extent we've seen a Democratic response to Trump (and it's early days yet), the only Democrat who's response I like has been Reid, who's, sadly, on his way out.

[Max Peck]

I think we know who his interior designer is.

Nah, it's far more likely to be Reggie Van Dough than Richie Rich.

[tgb]

I think we know who his interior designer is.

Nah, it's far more likely to be Reggie Van Dough than Richie Rich.

[Kraken]

To the extent we've seen a Democratic response to Trump (and it's early days yet), the only Democrat who's response I like has been Reid, who's, sadly, on his way out.

I like Jerry Brown's. Did someone already link that here? These threads and my facebook feed are all feeding into the same firehose.