The Former Trump Presidency Thread

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Tue Dec 26, 2017 3:33 pm

LordMortis wrote: Tue Dec 26, 2017 3:30 pm
a necessary precondition for the End Times
It's weird but to my untrained eye, they seem to be trying to prepare for it by bringing it about. Trump is like some sort of nationalization or David Koresch, where "drinking the KoolAid" is a bit too close to being literal for my comfort.

Why wouldn't they? The story ends with heaven on earth, after all.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Tue Dec 26, 2017 4:14 pm

Still, though, I think Evangelicals genuinely fixated on End-Times prophecy are relatively rare.

For every one of them committed to Trump because he is fulfilling some clue from Revelations, there are fifty who are simply happy that he is sticking it to the Libruls and thwarting the Gay Agenda and preventing Sharia Law in Kentucky.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Thu Dec 28, 2017 11:26 am

Yesterday was day 87 of golf. Amazing - it's like a 1/4 of his first year as President.

gilraen · Post by **gilraen** » Thu Dec 28, 2017 12:00 pm

Maybe we'll get lucky and he'll get struck by lightning out on the golf course.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Thu Dec 28, 2017 1:47 pm

Smoove_B wrote: Thu Dec 28, 2017 11:26 am Yesterday was day 87 of golf. Amazing - it's like a 1/4 of his first year as President.

It's been funny to watch the pivot to "but...but...but...business gets done on a golf course!" by exactly the same people who were crucifying Obama for golfing or taking vacations.

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Thu Dec 28, 2017 2:05 pm

Skinypupy wrote: Thu Dec 28, 2017 1:47 pm
Smoove_B wrote: Thu Dec 28, 2017 11:26 am Yesterday was day 87 of golf. Amazing - it's like a 1/4 of his first year as President.
It's been funny to watch the pivot to "but...but...but...business gets done on a golf course!" by exactly the same people who were crucifying Obama for golfing or taking vacations.

That's an easy one to rationalize. Obama golfed in order to get away from the job. Lazy! Trump golfs to make deals. MAGA!

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Thu Dec 28, 2017 2:20 pm

It's not like I encounter a lot of Trump supporters, online or off...but the ones I've seen confronted with his golfing schedule have simply denied it as fake news.

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Thu Dec 28, 2017 3:02 pm

Kraken wrote: Thu Dec 28, 2017 2:20 pm It's not like I encounter a lot of Trump supporters, online or off...but the ones I've seen confronted with his golfing schedule have simply denied it as fake news.

This has happened to me as well. Same thing on various other topics. I'll say these weren't bright people in general to begin with but their vote still counts. Others who are anti-Trump but support the Republican agenda are more on the level of I'm getting mine. I despise them more - they know what they are doing.

tjg_marantz · Post by **tjg_marantz** » Thu Dec 28, 2017 9:53 pm

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/sta ... 7229701120
That's not how this works, any of it.

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Thu Dec 28, 2017 10:03 pm

Weather ≠ Climate.

Chaz · Post by **Chaz** » Thu Dec 28, 2017 10:18 pm

It's dark! The sun is gone!

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Thu Dec 28, 2017 10:58 pm

Chaz wrote: Thu Dec 28, 2017 10:18 pm It's dark! The sun is gone!

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Fri Dec 29, 2017 10:55 am

Well I can't figure this one out - a Churchill he certainly isn't.

https://twitter.com/GovMikeHuckabee/sta ... 3138315264

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Fri Dec 29, 2017 10:59 am

Churchill knew he was fucked without international help. Trump doesn't believe he needs help on anything.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Fri Dec 29, 2017 11:07 am

I say this with all sincerity - does Mike Huckabee smoke crack?

Moliere · Post by **Moliere** » Fri Dec 29, 2017 11:23 am

"Churchill was hated by his own party"
Probably because he kept switching parties whenever there was an advantage to do so.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Fri Dec 29, 2017 11:26 am

Smoove_B wrote: Fri Dec 29, 2017 11:07 am I say this with all sincerity - does Mike Huckabee smoke crack?

Worse. He has to live completely uncaffeinated.

Sepiche · Post by **Sepiche** » Fri Dec 29, 2017 12:29 pm

I'm trying to picture Drumpf in the place of Churchill during the dark days of WWII... I *do* think we can all agree that Drumpf wouldn't have tried to appease Hitler like Chaimberlain did, but mostly because he would be looking to join the Axis.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Fri Dec 29, 2017 12:50 pm

I see him more as an Il Duce. Starting fights that he's il-equipped to finish and having to beg for an actual effective leader to bail him out.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Fri Dec 29, 2017 2:14 pm

WaPo

President Trump on Friday called for the U.S. Postal Service to raise the shipping rates that it charges Amazon, the online retailer, in a deal that he said disadvantages the federal agency.

“Why is the United States Post Office, which is losing many billions of dollars a year, while charging Amazon and others so little to deliver their packages, making Amazon richer and the Post Office dumber and poorer? Should be charging MUCH MORE!” Trump tweeted Friday morning.

Trump is likely referring to a partnership between USPS and Amazon in which the Postal Service carries Amazon packages in the last leg of their journeys to customer doorsteps. (Amazon chief executive Jeffrey P. Bezos owns The Washington Post.)

In June, a hedge fund manager whose firm invests in FedEx wrote a Wall Street Journal op-ed asserting that the USPS effectively subsidizes Amazon, citing a Citigroup report that the Postal Service loses an average of $1.456 for each Amazon shipment it delivers.

Amazon rejected the critique. At the time, Amazon told Fortune magazine that the Postal Regulatory Commission, which oversees the USPS, “has consistently found that Amazon's contracts with the USPS are profitable.”
...
It was not clear what drove Trump’s interest in the shipping relationship between Amazon and the USPS on Friday morning. Shipping is in the news with the holiday season, and several cable networks mentioned Amazon and Bezos as part of features Friday morning, though they did not appear to mention the USPS issue.

Octavious · Post by **Octavious** » Fri Dec 29, 2017 2:31 pm

It would be pretty dumb if USPS was taking a loss from shipping Amazon items. So if that were actually true, I would have one thing I agree with Rump on. Of course it will end up not being true because well he sucks.

Zarathud · Post by **Zarathud** » Fri Dec 29, 2017 3:10 pm

Isn't the USPS only losing money because (1) the Republicans forced them to accelerate pension costs and (2) wanted to force service cuts in a working government agency?

Who snuck in to give this idea to Trump?

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Fri Dec 29, 2017 3:18 pm

Independent

Donald Trump is still “definitely involved” in the running of his Washington DC hotel, according to a recently revealed email from one of its most senior employees.
...
Shortly before his inauguration he declared that he had formally given "complete and total" to his sons Donald Jr and Eric Trump.

But that claim appeared to have been contradicted by the director of revenue management at the Trump International Hotel in Washington DC.

"I had a brief meeting with him a few weeks ago, and he was asking about banquet revenues and demographics," Jeng Chi Hung wrote in a September email to a former employer.

"And, he asked if his presidency hurt the businesses. So, he seems self aware about things, at least more than he lets on."

He added that Mr Trump was "supposed to be out of the business and passed on to his sons, but he's definitely involved”, according to the Daily Beast website, which originally reported the story.

But hotel spokeswoman Patricia Tang dismissed Mr Hung's claims. "Completely false and employee admitted to making the statement to inflate himself," she told The Independent.

It followed comments by the hotel's managing director Mickael Damelincourt who confirmed that Mr Hung had sent the email but described its contents as "total nonsense”.

“Upon review of the email referenced in your inquiry, we have met with the individual and he has confirmed that he made these comments up in an effort to enhance his sense of importance to a former employer,” he said.

“In fact, this individual confirmed to me today that he has never met the President nor did any conversation ever take place. We are continuing to investigate this matter internally.”

Mr Hung told the publication he could not comment on the email.

tgb · Post by **tgb** » Fri Dec 29, 2017 3:24 pm

If Amazon is indeed getting a better shipping rate than everyone else, Fuckhead might be right on this one.

Stopped clock, and all of that..............

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Fri Dec 29, 2017 3:28 pm

Isgrimnur wrote: Fri Dec 29, 2017 2:14 pm WaPo

President Trump on Friday called for the U.S. Postal Service to raise the shipping rates that it charges Amazon, the online retailer, in a deal that he said disadvantages the federal agency.

“Why is the United States Post Office, which is losing many billions of dollars a year, while charging Amazon and others so little to deliver their packages, making Amazon richer and the Post Office dumber and poorer? Should be charging MUCH MORE!” Trump tweeted Friday morning.

Trump is likely referring to a partnership between USPS and Amazon in which the Postal Service carries Amazon packages in the last leg of their journeys to customer doorsteps. (Amazon chief executive Jeffrey P. Bezos owns The Washington Post.)

In June, a hedge fund manager whose firm invests in FedEx wrote a Wall Street Journal op-ed asserting that the USPS effectively subsidizes Amazon, citing a Citigroup report that the Postal Service loses an average of $1.456 for each Amazon shipment it delivers.

Amazon rejected the critique. At the time, Amazon told Fortune magazine that the Postal Regulatory Commission, which oversees the USPS, “has consistently found that Amazon's contracts with the USPS are profitable.”
...
It was not clear what drove Trump’s interest in the shipping relationship between Amazon and the USPS on Friday morning. Shipping is in the news with the holiday season, and several cable networks mentioned Amazon and Bezos as part of features Friday morning, though they did not appear to mention the USPS issue.

It's extremely generous to say that it's unclear what's driving Trump's interest in this. He hates the "Amazon Washington Post" (as he likes to call it), and sees an opportunity to potentially hurt Amazon as revenge, and a potential point of leverage to get Bezos and his executive staff to lean on the Washington Post to go easy on Trump.

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Fri Dec 29, 2017 3:29 pm

tgb wrote: Fri Dec 29, 2017 3:24 pm If Amazon is indeed getting a better shipping rate than everyone else, Fuckhead might be right on this one.

Stopped clock, and all of that..............

It's more of an issue of whether or not the rates are profitable. It's fine if Amazon is getting a better rate, as long as that's driven by things like volume discounts rather than corporate favoritism or corruption or the like. If the USPS is making money off the contracts, then they get a lot less suspicious.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Fri Dec 29, 2017 4:06 pm

You know those oil industry regulations that Obama put in place last year? The ones that came after 6 years of analysis into the gulf oil spill? Shocking no one, Trump just undid them all.

The Trump administration is rolling back offshore drilling rules put in place after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster killed 11 workers and spewed millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

President Donald Trump in April ordered Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to review a raft of Obama-era safety rules that sought to curb accidents and pollution by oil and gas drillers operating in U.S. waters. The agency on Thursday proposed several changes to those regulations, including scrapping a requirement that operators certify through a third party that their safety devices are functioning properly.

The changes will save companies at least $288 million over 10 years, according to the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.

The last sentence being the key here, of course. We simply can't have the fact that 11 people were killed and a massive environmental disaster was created to interfere with oil company profits.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Fri Dec 29, 2017 4:18 pm

When the next disaster requires wrongful death and lost business payouts, I'm sure we'll have to cut 'entitlement' programs to pay for them.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Fri Dec 29, 2017 4:22 pm

The weird thing is, it was estimated that the cost of the Deepwater Horizon disaster to BP was $61.2 billion.

So how does cutting regulation to save $288 million over 10 years across an entire industry (one that makes billions in profit every quarter) make any sort of financial sense at all? Seems like the potential risk would far outweigh the reward.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Fri Dec 29, 2017 4:24 pm

Because surely DWH was a once-in-a-lifetime event that couldn't have been predicted and there's no way that any of those regulations could do anything to prevent such a rare, unrepeatable event! /s

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Fri Dec 29, 2017 4:25 pm

Skinypupy wrote: Fri Dec 29, 2017 4:06 pm You know those oil industry regulations that Obama put in place last year? The ones that came after 6 years of analysis into the gulf oil spill? Shocking no one, Trump just undid them all.

The Trump administration is rolling back offshore drilling rules put in place after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster killed 11 workers and spewed millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

President Donald Trump in April ordered Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to review a raft of Obama-era safety rules that sought to curb accidents and pollution by oil and gas drillers operating in U.S. waters. The agency on Thursday proposed several changes to those regulations, including scrapping a requirement that operators certify through a third party that their safety devices are functioning properly.

The changes will save companies at least $288 million over 10 years, according to the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.
The last sentence being the key here, of course. We simply can't have the fact that 11 people were killed and a massive environmental disaster was created to interfere with oil company profits.

I dunno, I think the key part is "Obama-era rules". These specific rules are just the next on the list.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Fri Dec 29, 2017 4:26 pm

You're thinking about this from an environmental standpoint. How likely will it be that another Deepwater Horizon event happens in the next 10 years? 25 years? Instead, they're taking that $288 million over a decade savings and re-directing it to the employees.

I'll pause here for laughter.

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Fri Dec 29, 2017 4:26 pm

Skinypupy wrote: Fri Dec 29, 2017 4:22 pm The weird thing is, it was estimated that the cost of the Deepwater Horizon disaster to BP was $61.2 billion.

So how does cutting regulation to save $288 million over 10 years across an entire industry (one that makes billions in profit every quarter) make any sort of financial sense at all? Seems like the potential risk would far outweigh the reward.

Right, but none of BP's competitors bore the cost. The thinking may be to just hope that you're not the one to roll snake eyes.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Fri Dec 29, 2017 4:42 pm

El Guapo wrote: Fri Dec 29, 2017 4:26 pm
Skinypupy wrote: Fri Dec 29, 2017 4:22 pm The weird thing is, it was estimated that the cost of the Deepwater Horizon disaster to BP was $61.2 billion.

So how does cutting regulation to save $288 million over 10 years across an entire industry (one that makes billions in profit every quarter) make any sort of financial sense at all? Seems like the potential risk would far outweigh the reward.
Right, but none of BP's competitors bore the cost. The thinking may be to just hope that you're not the one to roll snake eyes.

I can't help but envision every one of these assholes as mustache-twirling, Snidley Whiplash-style cartoon villains at this point.

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Fri Dec 29, 2017 4:46 pm

I wonder if they factor in insurance premium increases due to the lack of oversight in the $300M bucket? You have to figure the reinsurers are going to figure that in now. That'll be industry-wide.

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Fri Dec 29, 2017 5:03 pm

Another day - another advisory council gone. How are we supposed to identify Haitians now?

https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status ... 6792373248

Pyperkub · Post by **Pyperkub** » Fri Dec 29, 2017 6:11 pm

We don't need no stinking experts, we have the infinite wisdom of Trump!

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Fri Dec 29, 2017 7:58 pm

tjg_marantz wrote: Thu Dec 28, 2017 9:53 pm https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/sta ... 7229701120
That's not how this works, any of it.

It's been 25 degrees warmer than average here in Utah for the past 3 days. By Trump logic, climate change is now real again.

Your move, Two Scoops.

Defiant · Post by **Defiant** » Fri Dec 29, 2017 10:15 pm

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Fri Dec 29, 2017 10:18 pm

That's perfect.