The Former Trump Presidency Thread

Defiant · Post by **Defiant** » Wed Jul 26, 2017 3:28 pm

Just spoke to a Trump administration official about the transgender military decision. Here's what they said... pic.twitter.com/eOWdvlxTfd

— Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) July 26, 2017

Ah, so it's really *not* about "tremendous medical costs and disruption" at all, but owning the libs

— Mark Gongloff (@markgongloff) July 26, 2017

Defiant · Post by **Defiant** » Wed Jul 26, 2017 3:30 pm

The Pentagon spends 5 times more on Viagra than transgender services

"The money is negligible," Kristin Beck, a 20-year veteran of the Navy SEALs who is transgender, told Business Insider on Wednesday. "You're talking about .000001% of the military budget."

Ralph-Wiggum · Post by **Ralph-Wiggum** » Wed Jul 26, 2017 3:35 pm

Moliere wrote:
tgb wrote:Oh, my.

This is stupid and shows George is a one issue guy. FDR literally confiscated the property and imprisoned Japanese Americans. That sounds petty and cruel.

Considering that Takei was one of those Japanese-Americans imprisoned, I'm pretty sure he knows a good bit about FDR.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Wed Jul 26, 2017 3:39 pm

I think that is where Moliere was coming from. That said, I also think Takei recognizes that the US and humanity have moved forward in the last 70 years and is not judging FDR by the same rules as he judges Trump and that is as it should be IMO. For instance, I can think Jefferson was a great man, in spite of his owning slaves; much greater than Trump will ever be.

Moliere · Post by **Moliere** » Wed Jul 26, 2017 3:40 pm

Ralph-Wiggum wrote:Considering that Takei was one of those Japanese-Americans imprisoned, I'm pretty sure he knows a good bit about FDR.

I know. That's my point about calling him a single issue guy.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Wed Jul 26, 2017 3:40 pm

The press briefing dodged all questions about justifications for the transgender ban. SHS simply wouldn't answer.

Meanwhile people are pointing out that transgendered soldiers serve openly in the militaries of all of the major NATO powers and Israel.

Alefroth · Post by **Alefroth** » Wed Jul 26, 2017 3:43 pm

Holman wrote:Did this really happen?

I just read that Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced that they were going to start some press briefings by reading letters from citizens, and she starts with one from "nine-year-old Dylan" who wrote to Trump to tell him that he loves him and doesn't understand why some people don't.

That is some Pyongyang flower girl bullshit right there. What are they thinking? Does this president require flattery at all times?

Holy Shit. You can watch it right here:

"I'm happy to say that I directly spoke to the president, Dylan, and he would be more than happy to be your friend."

Great Leader loves all loyal children of Motherland!

I bet they wouldn't read my letter.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Wed Jul 26, 2017 3:48 pm

Moliere wrote:
tgb wrote:Oh, my.

This is stupid and shows George is a one issue guy. FDR literally confiscated the property and imprisoned Japanese Americans. That sounds petty and cruel. FDR also allowed the Jews to get slaughtered instead of increasing the immigration of Jews and bombing the train tracks leading to the the death camps. Again, kind of petty and cruel. Jackson was both cruel and petty when it came to the Indians. Other Presidents were slave owners. Announcing Trump as the worst President ever is as ignorant as Trump calling himself the greatest President ever.

Or, you know, some people are passionate and don't reach into the annals of time to verify every statement they make against all of known history. I'm willing to bet that equality is a big thing on his radar, probably bigger than it is on mine or yours.

Moliere · Post by **Moliere** » Wed Jul 26, 2017 3:59 pm

Paingod wrote:Or, you know, some people are passionate and don't reach into the annals of time to verify every statement they make against all of known history. I'm willing to bet that equality is a big thing on his radar, probably bigger than it is on mine or yours.

The annals of time and all of known history? He made a blanket statement covering a couple dozen guys over the last 200 odd years. I'm pretty sure my examples of how Japanese Americans and Indians were treated should be included in your equality calculation.

Moliere · Post by **Moliere** » Wed Jul 26, 2017 4:01 pm

I'm all about people critiquing Trump. Just don't say stupid shit like he's worse than Hitler or the cruelest President ever. So far, he is neither.

Chaz · Post by **Chaz** » Wed Jul 26, 2017 4:03 pm

It's funny that Sanders is able to talk to the President to get direct answers to questions from little Dylan, but whenever the Press asks what he meant/thinks about something, she hasn't asked him about that, and then always forgets to. Funny, huh?

stessier · Post by **stessier** » Wed Jul 26, 2017 4:08 pm

Moliere wrote:I'm all about people critiquing Trump. Just don't say stupid shit like he's worse than Hitler or the cruelest President ever. So far, he is neither.

Cruelest depends on a point of view. Yours is not better than his...well, except that he lived through the FDR thing.

tgb · Post by **tgb** » Wed Jul 26, 2017 4:10 pm

Kudos to the WHPC for keeping a straight face through that bullshit.

Defiant · Post by **Defiant** » Wed Jul 26, 2017 4:13 pm

John McCain released a statement saying there should not be a new policy decision made right now on transgender individuals in the military, so I expect him to draft a bill that endorses this new policy decision by tomorrow.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Wed Jul 26, 2017 4:15 pm

Moliere wrote:
Paingod wrote:Or, you know, some people are passionate and don't reach into the annals of time to verify every statement they make against all of known history. I'm willing to bet that equality is a big thing on his radar, probably bigger than it is on mine or yours.
The annals of time and all of known history? He made a blanket statement covering a couple dozen guys over the last 200 odd years. I'm pretty sure my examples of how Japanese Americans and Indians were treated should be included in your equality calculation.

We can at least agree on "stupidest, most incompetent, and pettiest," right?

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Wed Jul 26, 2017 4:16 pm

Moliere wrote:
Paingod wrote:Or, you know, some people are passionate and don't reach into the annals of time to verify every statement they make against all of known history. I'm willing to bet that equality is a big thing on his radar, probably bigger than it is on mine or yours.
The annals of time and all of known history? He made a blanket statement covering a couple dozen guys over the last 200 odd years. I'm pretty sure my examples of how Japanese Americans and Indians were treated should be included in your equality calculation.

From an arbitrary, where he sits in relation to the world around him, I put him on par with Andrew Jackson for being the worst and cruelest, and it's (not so) funny to me that he seems idolize Jackson.

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Wed Jul 26, 2017 4:17 pm

I can't wait for the resolution of the critical debate on whether Trump is a horrible president, or the horriblest president.

Moliere · Post by **Moliere** » Wed Jul 26, 2017 4:19 pm

stessier wrote:
Moliere wrote:I'm all about people critiquing Trump. Just don't say stupid shit like he's worse than Hitler or the cruelest President ever. So far, he is neither.
Cruelest depends on a point of view. Yours is not better than his...well, except that he lived through the FDR thing.

Let's compare and see if there is an objective level of which is crueler:

Jackson: 4000 Indians die as the result of their removal and relocation.
FDR: Over 100,000 Japanese Americans are forced into internment camps for years, losing their property and liberty.
Trump: Transgender people can't serve in the military.

I would argue that objectively speaking, Trump's actions cannot be called the cruelest ever. You can call Trump's action bad, but historically speaking, not the worst ever.

Tao · Post by **Tao** » Wed Jul 26, 2017 4:25 pm

One possible reason for Trumps sudden stance on transgender military ban as reported by Politico. Seems somewhat plausible;

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/07/2 ... nes-240990

Basically a knee-jerk reaction to someone telling Trump transgender in the military could threaten his Wall funding.

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Wed Jul 26, 2017 4:41 pm

Moliere wrote:
stessier wrote:
Moliere wrote:I'm all about people critiquing Trump. Just don't say stupid shit like he's worse than Hitler or the cruelest President ever. So far, he is neither.
Cruelest depends on a point of view. Yours is not better than his...well, except that he lived through the FDR thing.
Let's compare and see if there is an objective level of which is crueler:

Jackson: 4000 Indians die as the result of their removal and relocation.
FDR: Over 100,000 Japanese Americans are forced into internment camps for years, losing their property and liberty.
Trump: Transgender people can't serve in the military.

I would argue that objectively speaking, Trump's actions cannot be called the cruelest ever. You can call Trump's action bad, but historically speaking, not the worst ever.

Oh, his butcher's bill can sky rocket once he takes credit for removing healthcare from 26 million people.

Pyperkub · Post by **Pyperkub** » Wed Jul 26, 2017 5:47 pm

Tao wrote:One possible reason for Trumps sudden stance on transgender military ban as reported by Politico. Seems somewhat plausible;

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/07/2 ... nes-240990

Basically a knee-jerk reaction to someone telling Trump transgender in the military could threaten his Wall funding.

This president is so easily manipulated into doing stupid things.

Oh, and... here's some data:

“The implication is that even in the most extreme scenario that we were able to identify … we expect only a 0.13-percent ($8.4 million out of $6.2 billion) increase in health care spending,” Rand's authors concluded...

...By contrast, total military spending on erectile dysfunction medicines amounts to $84 million annually, according to an analysis by the Military Times — 10 times the cost of annual transition-related medical care for active duty transgender servicemembers.

The military spends $41.6 million annually on Viagra alone, according to the Military Times analysis — roughly five times the estimated spending on transition-related medical care for transgender troops.

Defiant · Post by **Defiant** » Wed Jul 26, 2017 7:18 pm

After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow......

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2017

At the Pentagon, the first of the three tweets raised fears that the president was getting ready to announce strikes on North Korea or some other military action. Many said they were left in suspense for nine minutes, the time between the first and second tweet. Only after the second tweet did military officials receive the news the president was announcing a personnel change on Twitter.

link

Octavious · Post by **Octavious** » Wed Jul 26, 2017 7:35 pm

So he pretty much pulled the I declare bankruptcy from The Office. Michael that's not how it works.

Pyperkub · Post by **Pyperkub** » Wed Jul 26, 2017 8:10 pm

Defiant wrote:
After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow......

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2017

At the Pentagon, the first of the three tweets raised fears that the president was getting ready to announce strikes on North Korea or some other military action. Many said they were left in suspense for nine minutes, the time between the first and second tweet. Only after the second tweet did military officials receive the news the president was announcing a personnel change on Twitter.
link

Pyperkub · Post by **Pyperkub** » Wed Jul 26, 2017 11:48 pm

Defiant wrote:
After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow......

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2017

At the Pentagon, the first of the three tweets raised fears that the president was getting ready to announce strikes on North Korea or some other military action. Many said they were left in suspense for nine minutes, the time between the first and second tweet. Only after the second tweet did military officials receive the news the president was announcing a personnel change on Twitter.
link

Thinking about this a bit more, I'm a bit freaked out right now.

If the Pentagon doesn't know WTF Trump was about to tweet, but thought it could be NK strikes, WTF would NK read into it?

A nuclear missile could have been headed at Japan, or if our intelligence estimates are off, Hawaii or even the West Coast.

I fear it's possible that our reckless, impulsive, twitter-addicted child of a President just brought us closer to nuclear war than we've ever been in my lifetime (born in '67).

I think I'll be writing all of my congressmen (and women) to ban Trump from twitter,at the least

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Thu Jul 27, 2017 10:53 am

What a mess.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Thu Jul 27, 2017 10:59 am

Given the whole border crossing mess The Pres caused not a couple of months ago with regard to his setting policy by informal tweet, can you blame them? I'd want specific direction on everything coming from the White House or they'd take my job for not playing the game and replace me with another "not a puppet, you're the puppet."

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Thu Jul 27, 2017 11:07 am

I get it. While Trump's tweets are clear enough in terms of direction, I would also want a clear written order on what exactly is being changed before doing anything. Still a mess, though. Also exposes the whole "after consulting with generals" part of Trump's tweeting to be a lie.

Brian · Post by **Brian** » Thu Jul 27, 2017 11:15 am

Yeah, that's been my question since this whole thing blew up. Has there actually been an official policy change or executive order enacted or is he simply spouting off again with no actual change (currently) being made?

tgb · Post by **tgb** » Thu Jul 27, 2017 11:34 am

No stranger to authoritarianism, Gary Kasparov commented yesterday that this is a classic distraction - get your base riled up against the Others. So far this week we've had this and pretty young white girls being slashed by dark foreigners.

Who's next?

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Thu Jul 27, 2017 11:36 am

tgb wrote:No stranger to authoritarianism, Gary Kasparov commented yesterday that this is a classic distraction - get your base riled up against the Others. So far this week we've had this and pretty young white girls being slashed by dark foreigners.

Who's next?

Well, I'm just glad that I'm Jewish. I can rest easy.

tgb · Post by **tgb** » Thu Jul 27, 2017 11:38 am

El Guapo wrote:
tgb wrote:No stranger to authoritarianism, Gary Kasparov commented yesterday that this is a classic distraction - get your base riled up against the Others. So far this week we've had this and pretty young white girls being slashed by dark foreigners.

Who's next?
Well, I'm just glad that I'm Jewish. I can rest easy.

So far he's been laying off. I don't get it.

Octavious · Post by **Octavious** » Thu Jul 27, 2017 11:38 am

I'm waiting for the well timed war. That's always a great way to boost popularity. Or he could get lucky and have gigantic storm come through. Even Christie the second biggest asshole in the country got a big boon from that.

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Thu Jul 27, 2017 11:44 am

tgb wrote:
El Guapo wrote:
tgb wrote:No stranger to authoritarianism, Gary Kasparov commented yesterday that this is a classic distraction - get your base riled up against the Others. So far this week we've had this and pretty young white girls being slashed by dark foreigners.

Who's next?
Well, I'm just glad that I'm Jewish. I can rest easy.
So far he's been laying off. I don't get it.

We're probably safe, then.

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Thu Jul 27, 2017 11:46 am

Octavious wrote:I'm waiting for the well timed war. That's always a great way to boost popularity. Or he could get lucky and have gigantic storm come through. Even Christie the second biggest asshole in the country got a big boon from that.

Well, but an incompetently-managed crisis can make things worse - see Katrina and Bush, for example. Given Trump's incompetence and trust gap with most of the public, not sure either a storm or a war would wind up helping him.

Pyperkub · Post by **Pyperkub** » Thu Jul 27, 2017 12:08 pm

El Guapo wrote:
Octavious wrote:I'm waiting for the well timed war. That's always a great way to boost popularity. Or he could get lucky and have gigantic storm come through. Even Christie the second biggest asshole in the country got a big boon from that.
Well, but an incompetently-managed crisis can make things worse - see Katrina and Bush, for example. Given Trump's incompetence and trust gap with most of the public, not sure either a storm or a war would wind up helping him.

Think more in terms of a health care crisis too. E.g. Reagan and AIDS. Ignored for far too long because it was perceived as a gay disease which the administration wanted nothing to do with.

Real headway had to wait until over 10 years later in the Clinton administration.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Thu Jul 27, 2017 12:25 pm

tgb wrote:No stranger to authoritarianism, Gary Kasparov commented yesterday that this is a classic distraction - get your base riled up against the Others. So far this week we've had this and pretty young white girls being slashed by dark foreigners.

Who's next?

One theory gaining traction is that hitting LBGT soldiers was meant to woo cultural conservatives dismayed by Trump's turn against their man Jeff Sessions.

Meanwhile, Sessions' DOJ is arguing that gays are not protected under a major civil rights law.

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Thu Jul 27, 2017 1:40 pm

tgb wrote:
El Guapo wrote:
tgb wrote:No stranger to authoritarianism, Gary Kasparov commented yesterday that this is a classic distraction - get your base riled up against the Others. So far this week we've had this and pretty young white girls being slashed by dark foreigners.

Who's next?
Well, I'm just glad that I'm Jewish. I can rest easy.
So far he's been laying off. I don't get it.

You can thank Ivanka for that one.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Thu Jul 27, 2017 1:53 pm

Welcome your newly nominated State Dept International Ambassador for Religious Freedom, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback

Pardon me while I go vomit.

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Thu Jul 27, 2017 2:04 pm

Huh. Apparently it's "Fuck your state over economically, get an appointment Day". Had no idea that fell on a Thursday.