The Former Trump Presidency Thread

[Isgrimnur]

[Alefroth]

Kelly in a briefing believes Gold Star families are no longer sacred after the convention last summer. Hard to see that as anything other than a slam on Trump.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/19/politics/ ... index.html

[Alefroth]

Not a WTF at you. I accepted the tweet as legit too.

[Holman]

OMG, look at this body language.

[GreenGoo]

Kelly in a briefing believes Gold Star families are no longer sacred after the convention last summer. Hard to see that as anything other than a slam on Trump.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/19/politics/ ... index.html

"He was doing exactly what he wanted to do when he was killed. He knew what he was getting into by joining that 1%. He knew what the possibilities were because we were at war," Kelly said, channeling Dunford's words to him upon the death of Kelly's son. "And when he died he was surrounded by the best men on this earth, his friends. That's what the President tried to say to the four families the other day."

How stupid do you have to be to take that, and get this from it?

he knew what he signed up for, I guess

Giving condolences takes tact and empathy. It's not easy for the best of us. For God's sake, Mr. President, get someone on your staff to do it. You are not cut out for it. Not even a little. This is less about Drumpf being a terrible person and more about Drumpf being completely incapable of doing the job (condolences) successfully.

[Alefroth]

OMG, look at this body language.

I noticed that right away too. The world's greatest negotiator. Cool as a cucumber. He's lucky he doesn't play poker.

[Alefroth]

Giving condolences takes tact and empathy. It's not easy for the best of us.

My wife said the exact same thing this morning. As much as we despise him, we agreed we might have cut him slack if he could have just apologized and clarified. He's incapable of being a decent person, much less president.

[Kraken]

Giving condolences takes tact and empathy. It's not easy for the best of us.

My wife said the exact same thing this morning. As much as we despise him, we agreed we might have cut him slack if he could have just apologized and clarified. He's incapable of being a decent person, much less president.

Yeah, I'm empathetically challenged too, but I recognize that as a personal shortcoming and try to compensate. I usually know what words are expected in a given situation, and I can usually say them convincingly.

Trump has no personal shortcomings.

[Chaz]

OMG, look at this body language.

I noticed that right away too. The world's greatest negotiator. Cool as a cucumber. He's lucky he doesn't play poker.

There's a lot of videos of him defending himself with that exact same body language. If you looked up defensive lying in the body language dictionary, that's what you'd find.

[Blackhawk]

OMG, look at this body language.

Ok, I've watched several times. Can someone give me the closed captions version of the body language?

[LawBeefaroni]

OMG, look at this body language.

Ok, I've watched several times. Can someone give me the closed captions version of the body language?

"Pouty, petulant man-child somehow lives to be 71, is caught lying (again), wants his KFC tendies. "

[Blackhawk]

OMG, look at this body language.

Ok, I've watched several times. Can someone give me the closed captions version of the body language?

"Pouty, petulant man-child somehow lives to be 71, is caught lying (again), wants his KFC tendies. "

Thanks. I can't read body language - he just looked constipated to me.

[Zaxxon]

Probably that, too.

[Zarathud]

Let's look at this another way:

Trump called the grieving widow of a dead solider, and upset her by his callousness.

Congresswoman Wilson was there at the side of the family when Trump called, because they were close before his death.

Who cares more about the family of veterans? The person who was there, and saw what happened. Not the President who phoned it in, and still failed.

#MAGA #NotWinning

[Zarathud]

Another way to look at Kelly's comments:

He thinks President Trump...and all Presidents...should do nothing because they cannot "lighten the burden on these families" grieving for lost soldiers.

Whether or not that is true, shouldn't any President do their best to try? They are the Commander in Chief.

And shouldn't another parent of a fallen soldier want the President to honor the sacrifice of fallen veterans? Perhaps it's really that this President is incapable of the job.

Sad! #YoureFired

[Kraken]

OMG, look at this body language.

Ok, I've watched several times. Can someone give me the closed captions version of the body language?

"Pouty, petulant man-child somehow lives to be 71, is caught lying (again), wants his KFC tendies. "

Thanks. I can't read body language - he just looked constipated to me.

Crossed arms are an obvious defensive pose. Rounded shoulders make him look small. Trump is a man who ordinarily dominates the space around himself.

[malchior]

CIA Director inaccurately says Russia had no effect on election. Another *totally* normal day in Trump's America.

[Paingod]

Trump just claimed he gets a 10 out of 10 for the Puerto Rico response. I'd die laughing if people weren't actually dying due to his incompetence. Sic semper moronis futundo.

This is his narcissism at work. He can't acknowledge even the slightest need for improvement. He's unmoored from reality.

Just this week he declared that no other president has ever done as much as he has in nine months. His toadies like Sean Hannity play the same game. Sheriff David Clarke this week insisted that there is literally no one alive more sensitive to the feelings of Gold Star families than Donald Trump.

This is Pyongyang-level bullshit.

Trump is the head of a human centipede. Everyone behind him just eats whatever he shits out and passes it on.

[malchior]

What's amazing is he got a man like Kelly to go out, get outraged, get facts wrong, and just in general become a person who throws their reputation down the drain. It boggles the mind. There is something incredibly broken here. I'm not talking opinion here. They *constantly get verifiable facts wrong*. That is why it is so dangerous. If we can't agree on facts then the time for discussion is over. Sooner or later this will all blow up if this is the road we choose.

Edit: Just to further expand - Kelly made a personal attack on Wilson's character *and got the facts wrong there*. Someone clearly tried to clumsily dig up some dirt on Wilson and Kelly repeated it without verification. To smear her because she spoke up for a family who was hurting. Completely indefensible.

[LawBeefaroni]

You lie down with dogs, you get fleas. And by fleas, I mean large amounts of illegal foreign money that can later be used to blackmail you.

[Holman]

What's amazing is he got a man like Kelly to go out, get outraged, get facts wrong, and just in general become a person who throws their reputation down the drain. It boggles the mind. There is something incredibly broken here. I'm not talking opinion here. They *constantly get verifiable facts wrong*. That is why it is so dangerous. If we can't agree on facts then the time for discussion is over. Sooner or later this will all blow up if this is the road we choose.

Edit: Just to further expand - Kelly made a personal attack on Wilson's character *and got the facts wrong there*. Someone clearly tried to clumsily dig up some dirt on Wilson and Kelly repeated it without verification. To smear her because she spoke up for a family who was hurting. Completely indefensible.

Video confirms that his story was bogus.

[LawBeefaroni]

Is their unrelenting and unabashedly false attack on her more dog whisting? Am I being paranoid?

[Pyperkub]

Kelly in a briefing believes Gold Star families are no longer sacred after the convention last summer. Hard to see that as anything other than a slam on Trump.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/19/politics/ ... index.html

"He was doing exactly what he wanted to do when he was killed. He knew what he was getting into by joining that 1%. He knew what the possibilities were because we were at war," Kelly said, channeling Dunford's words to him upon the death of Kelly's son. "And when he died he was surrounded by the best men on this earth, his friends. That's what the President tried to say to the four families the other day."

How stupid do you have to be to take that, and get this from it?

he knew what he signed up for, I guess

Giving condolences takes tact and empathy. It's not easy for the best of us. For God's sake, Mr. President, get someone on your staff to do it. You are not cut out for it. Not even a little. This is less about Drumpf being a terrible person and more about Drumpf being completely incapable of doing the job (condolences) successfully.

Dear General Kelly - last I checked, we aren't at war in Niger.

[Skinypupy]

My social media feed this morning is full of Trumpsters talking about how John Kelly so bravely addressed this "disrespectful stunt" by the Democrats. "Disrespectful stunt" referring, of course, to Congresswoman Wilson and the widow's comments, and not anything Trump said or did.

I'll give them credit for one thing, they certainly do know how to circle the wagons.

[GreenGoo]

Dear General Kelly - last I checked, we aren't at war in Niger.

The soldier knew the US was at war when he signed up, and signed up anyway. That's his point. Not that he knew the US was at war with Niger when he was stationed there. In this case, I agree with Chrisoc.

Kelly will sink his own boat. He has already started drilling holes. For the good of the country, apparently. He doesn't need any help.

[malchior]

Is their unrelenting and unabashedly false attack on her more dog whisting? Am I being paranoid?

In this case I feel it is laziness. They likely did quick research. She isn't well known so there probably wasn't that much material lying around for attack. They just seized on something poorly sourced. In other words, the WH simply doesn't have the best minds working for it and this is the result.

[Max Peck]

Activist judiciary, or Deep State obstruction?

Federal judge refuses to erase Joe Arpaio’s conviction despite Trump pardon

A federal judge on Thursday shot down former sheriff Joe Arpaio’s bid to sweep his criminal record clean.

Arpaio, the controversial former lawman in Arizona’s Maricopa County, was granted a pardon by President Trump on Aug. 25. He had been found guilty of criminal contempt of a federal court order after a five-day bench trial earlier this year and faced the possibility of up to six months in jail. After the pardon, the 85-year-old Arpaio petitioned the court to clear his record and prevent the ruling from being used in future litigation.

The case raised the novel question of how far a presidential pardon actually reaches.

In her ruling, U.S. District Judge Susan R. Bolton said the pardon only freed Arpaio from possible punishment. In a four-page order offering a check on the president’s executive power, Bolton wrote that a pardon could not erase the facts of the case.

“The power to pardon is an executive prerogative of mercy, not of judicial recordkeeping,” Bolton wrote in the decision. “To vacate all rulings in this case would run afoul of this important distinction. The Court found Defendant guilty of criminal contempt.”

The president issued the pardon, and Arpaio was spared “from any punishment that might otherwise have been imposed,” the judge wrote. “It did not, however, ‘revise the historical facts’ of this case.”

Arpaio’s attorney immediately filed a notice of appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.

[Jaymann]

What?!? Trump does not have the ability to rewrite reality?

[Holman]

"Character Counts Week" sure went by fast, didn't it?

[Alefroth]

What's amazing is he got a man like Kelly to go out, get outraged, get facts wrong, and just in general become a person who throws their reputation down the drain. It boggles the mind. There is something incredibly broken here. I'm not talking opinion here. They *constantly get verifiable facts wrong*. That is why it is so dangerous. If we can't agree on facts then the time for discussion is over. Sooner or later this will all blow up if this is the road we choose.

Edit: Just to further expand - Kelly made a personal attack on Wilson's character *and got the facts wrong there*. Someone clearly tried to clumsily dig up some dirt on Wilson and Kelly repeated it without verification. To smear her because she spoke up for a family who was hurting. Completely indefensible.

Video confirms that his story was bogus.

Sanders is so despicable.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/10 ... attle.html

[GreenGoo]

Um. I just noticed that her eyes point in different directions. That's a little...offputting.

[Formix]

This was Kelly's Colin Powell at the UN moment. A lifetime of credibility down the tubes.

[tgb]

Um. I just noticed that her eyes point in different directions. That's a little...offputting.

I clocked that a while ago. It's definitely disturbing.

[Holman]

This was Kelly's Colin Powell at the UN moment. A lifetime of credibility down the tubes.

Now it's about whether he speaks up or allows Trump/SHS to speak for him.

Kelly bought into and presented a totally false version of events. Does he apologize, or does he go along with his boss' lie?

His whole speech was about the virtues of military people, so it's clear what he ought to do. Will he do it?

[malchior]

The WH response was essentially - don't dare question a 4-star general. Yeah we're on solid ground here when that is your go to line.

[Enough]

Come on guys, we all know it's just flat out wrong to criticize our generals.

[GreenGoo]

And since then we've learned that Drumpf almost certainly has no idea who Patton or MacArthur are, except that they existed at one time and people tell him they were important and good at their jobs.

[Jolor]

"Character Counts Week" sure went by fast, didn't it?

Edit: Just to further expand - Kelly made a personal attack on Wilson's character *and got the facts wrong there*. Someone clearly tried to clumsily dig up some dirt on Wilson and Kelly repeated it without verification. To smear her because she spoke up for a family who was hurting. Completely indefensible.

Each time I see this behaviour, I can't help but wonder whether they gave a carrot or used a stick.

[LawBeefaroni]

What's amazing is he got a man like Kelly to go out, get outraged, get facts wrong, and just in general become a person who throws their reputation down the drain. It boggles the mind. There is something incredibly broken here. I'm not talking opinion here. They *constantly get verifiable facts wrong*. That is why it is so dangerous. If we can't agree on facts then the time for discussion is over. Sooner or later this will all blow up if this is the road we choose.

Edit: Just to further expand - Kelly made a personal attack on Wilson's character *and got the facts wrong there*. Someone clearly tried to clumsily dig up some dirt on Wilson and Kelly repeated it without verification. To smear her because she spoke up for a family who was hurting. Completely indefensible.

Video confirms that his story was bogus.

Sanders is so despicable.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/10 ... attle.html

“As Gen. Kelly pointed out, if you're able to make a sacred act like honoring American heroes all about yourself, you’re an empty barrel,” Sanders said. “If you don't understand that reference, I will put it a little bit more simply as we say in the South, ‘all hat, no cattle.’”

The fuck? He called her an empty barrel for supposedly taking credit for the FBI building. God, fuck these people.

[Alefroth]

What's amazing is he got a man like Kelly to go out, get outraged, get facts wrong, and just in general become a person who throws their reputation down the drain. It boggles the mind. There is something incredibly broken here. I'm not talking opinion here. They *constantly get verifiable facts wrong*. That is why it is so dangerous. If we can't agree on facts then the time for discussion is over. Sooner or later this will all blow up if this is the road we choose.

Edit: Just to further expand - Kelly made a personal attack on Wilson's character *and got the facts wrong there*. Someone clearly tried to clumsily dig up some dirt on Wilson and Kelly repeated it without verification. To smear her because she spoke up for a family who was hurting. Completely indefensible.

Video confirms that his story was bogus.

Sanders is so despicable.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/10 ... attle.html

“As Gen. Kelly pointed out, if you're able to make a sacred act like honoring American heroes all about yourself, you’re an empty barrel,” Sanders said. “If you don't understand that reference, I will put it a little bit more simply as we say in the South, ‘all hat, no cattle.’”

The fuck? He called her an empty barrel for supposedly taking credit for the FBI building. God, fuck these people.

It's pretty galling to insult her (wrongfully so) for something his boss does on a regular basis. Do they really think most people don't catch that? And then to say it's inappropriate to debate a 4 Star General? Ugh.