The Former Trump Presidency Thread

[Kraken]

Trump has a honeymoon as his ratings soar

Forty-six percent of voters now have a very favorable or somewhat favorable opinion of the president-elect. Twelve percent have a somewhat unfavorable opinion and 34 percent have a very unfavorable opinion of him.

He won 48 or 49% of the popular vote so a 46% approval sounds slightly worse than one would expect. I choose to infer that 2-3% of his voters have changed their minds.

He won ~46.55% at the latest count, and given that it seems that much of the remaining vote is likely to go to Clinton (IIRC, the suggestions was 2-1 based on the states it's coming from) that might go down some.

Well there you go then. News flash: "People who voted for Trump approve of Trump."

[tgb]

Trump lit out after Zucker, criticizing his former business partner (Zucker was head of NBC during Trump's Apprentice franchise on the network) for CNN. He turned then to NBC, saying it was the worst, criticizing its reporters, and saying it could not even come up with a flattering picture to broadcast. His complaint: the network's photographs showed him with multiple chins. NBC President Deborah Turness replied that wasn't true - NBC right now is using a photograph that shows Trump in very flattering way, she said

link

Look for more direct-to-the-public videos in the coming months, where the press can't ask embarrassing "questions" or confront his Supreme Glory with so-called "facts".

[malchior]

[Zarathud]

Trump is already afraid of the press. So sad.

[malchior]

This push to avoid accountability is not great - we'll have to see how long it persists but he has massive conflicts. To contrast Jimmy Carter sold his family peanut farm. George W. Bush and Cheney put all their assets into real blind trusts. David Frum says it best as I have seen today:

[Defiant]

Trump just wants to hang out with his friend, Nigel Farange...

... but No 10 tells him there's no vacancy

I would imagine it's way out of protocol to publicly suggest who another country should nominate as their ambassador, no?

[Smoove_B]

Look, I'm not saying Trump is Hitler, but Nazis are saluting him:

“America was until this past generation a white country designed for ourselves and our posterity,” Spencer said. “It is our creation, it is our inheritance, and it belongs to us.”

Trump's response:

“President-elect Trump has continued to denounce racism of any kind, and he was elected because he will be a leader for every American,” the statement reads. “To think otherwise is a complete misrepresentation of the movement that united Americans from all backgrounds.”

He won't even call them radical white supremacists.

[raydude]

Now can we call them the "alt-reich" ?

[El Guapo]

This push to avoid accountability is not great - we'll have to see how long it persists but he has massive conflicts. To contrast Jimmy Carter sold his family peanut farm. George W. Bush and Cheney put all their assets into real blind trusts. David Frum says it best as I have seen today:

You should also check out this storify / series of tweets on Trump and the Trump Hotel in Argentina, which is problematic even if the stories about Trump asking about the hotel on the phone are false:

[Rip]

So many angry non-voters. Who needs voter suppression when indifference is doing such a good job.

Some members of the cast of Hamilton, who delivered a message to Vice President-elect Mike Pence about their fears of the new administration, have abstained from voting for years, records show.

There are no records available for this year, so it's unclear if the cast members voted in 2016, but years prior show many were absent on Election Day.

The Broadway smash hit players caused a controversy after Brandon Dixon, who plays Aaron Burr, read the message to Pence, who arrived on Friday to taken in the show with his family.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... ience.html

[Paingod]

In Soviet America, only the Voter has a voice!

It's a pretty weak straw to grasp at - attacking artists for not voting but daring to have a voice in a public forum. They likely feel that living in a VERY 'Blue' state gives them some comfort in not needing to vote, knowing the way the state leans. I don't fault people who don't vote. I avoided it for decades until this election, and only voted this time because of how disgusting Trump is as a human being. We've proven time and again that your individual vote means squat (or the popular vote would win); it's the state you're in that counts.

I would just say "you're stupid" if I truly felt that way.

I don't honestly believe that. There's no self-aggrandizement in that. It's far better to try and build a tall tower and look down at the peons than it is to hold your nose and walk past them. For someone who's signature proudly proclaims devotion to opinion and the unfaltering shield it provides, the expectation for 'safe, logical debate' seems pretty one-sided.

I'm done here.

Post of the year, IMO.

[Skinypupy]

I'll admit to being somewhat amused that there is no response from our conservative friend to any of the new details coming to light regarding Trump's rather significant business conflicts and childish behavior with the press, yet we get a "HAMILTON DIDN'T VOTE!". ::smokebomb::

[Remus West]

So many angry non-voters. Who needs voter suppression when indifference is doing such a good job.

Some members of the cast of Hamilton, who delivered a message to Vice President-elect Mike Pence about their fears of the new administration, have abstained from voting for years, records show.

There are no records available for this year, so it's unclear if the cast members voted in 2016, but years prior show many were absent on Election Day.

The Broadway smash hit players caused a controversy after Brandon Dixon, who plays Aaron Burr, read the message to Pence, who arrived on Friday to taken in the show with his family.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... ience.html

So many blatant attempts to distract from actually important news.

[malchior]

potentially dangerous behavior with the press

Mortoned.

[Smoove_B]

Trump is already afraid of the press. So sad.

Indeed

Trump says in a video released late Monday that his agenda "will be based on a simple core principle: putting America first."

...

Trump has yet to hold the traditional news conference that previous presidents-elect have done within days of winning on Election Day.

[Holman]

I was assuming we could reserve the phrase "supra-Nixonian levels of butthurt" at least until after the inauguration, but with the Hamilton spat and the recent round of fresh press-bashing, I'm just going to go ahead and throw it out there.

[Defiant]

Um, is he just outright stating his intentions to use the presidency to enrich himself? Or at the very least, saying you knew I was a con-man during the campaign so... too late!

Edit: this is in response to a NYT article out tonight about him recently conversing with a Farange in the U.K. about preventing wind farms from ruining the view at his golf course. Trump spokespeople denied it happened until confronted with an eye-witness claiming it did, at which point they went MIA.

Here's that article.

[Defiant]

Trump did not refer to a specific news story. However, a front page story in the Times on Tuesday morning strongly suggested, in measured terms, that Trump's vast foreign holdings could represent a violation of the Constitution's Emoluments Clause.

Article I, Section 9, Clause 8 of the Constitution states: " ... no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under [these United States], shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State."

link

[tjg_marantz]

The NYT meeting is back on LOL. I guess an adult had a talk with him. What a fucking thin skinned idiot.

[El Guapo]

Whoever the leading scholar of the Emoluments clause is, he or she has got to be pretty fucking jacked up right now.

[Zarathud]

The biggest Yugest conflicts ever.

The Trump Foundation filed tax returns admitting prohibited self-dealing transactions.

But you Trump voters "priced his business holdings into your vote" so he's not going to change. When do we get to investigate and lock him up?

[Isgrimnur]

Also, Isg wins the thread.

I'm done here.

Post of the year, IMO.

[Remus West]

When does the IRS finish their audit of him? What happens if they bring the POTUS up on tax evasion charges?

[Chaz]

Is it even valid to say that people took his business holdings and conflicts of interest into account when they voted when he went to great lengths to obfuscate and hide information about those holdings and conflicts? To now say "but you already knew everything" is a mental leap I can't even fathom.

[Zarathud]

"When the President does it, that means that it is not illegal." - President Nixon (and Trump apparently)

It's not valid. But that won't stop Trump until the press or a Congressional hearing uncovers enough dirt.

[$iljanus]

The biggest Yugest conflicts ever.

The Trump Foundation filed tax returns admitting prohibited self-dealing transactions.

But you Trump voters "priced his business holdings into your vote" so he's not going to change. When do we get to investigate and lock him up?

If it hasn't been posted here's a WaPo article regarding this story:

Trump Foundation: Yeah we violated the ban on self-dealing

Oh for the Trump supporters there's some red meat in there for you as well.

In addition, the Trump Foundation reported a $150,000 gift from the foundation of Viktor Pinchuk, a powerful Ukrainian steel magnate. That was the first such gift from Pinchuk.

Pinchuk, who supports closer ties between Ukraine and Western nations, had also pledged large donations to the foundation of Trump’s presidential opponent, Hillary Clinton. Those donations, pledged to the Clinton Foundation while Clinton was secretary of state, raised questions about whether she had conflicts of interest when she met with her family foundation’s donors.

There you go. Equal whatever.

And you know what pisses me off? Every example in the article has been reported before but it just didn't matter.

[tgb]

Now can we call them the "alt-reich" ?

Well played, sir.

[Defiant]

The Republicans who may be a thorn in Trump's side

[Skinypupy]

Against people of color, apparently.

[Defiant]

Against people of color, apparently.

Except orange people.

[Paingod]

When do we get to investigate and lock him up?

Just as soon as he swears into office, I think.

Against people of color, apparently.

Except orange people.

Where's the Grand Oompa Loompa? Are they already making plans to run the country without him?

[NickAragua]

When do we get to investigate and lock him up?

Just as soon as he swears into office, I think.

Against people of color, apparently.

Except orange people.

Where's the Grand Oompa Loompa? Are they already making plans to run the country without him?

More importantly, how did women make it into that picture? I mean, they're white and all, but still.

[Default]

When do we get to investigate and lock him up?

Just as soon as he swears into office, I think.

Against people of color, apparently.

Except orange people.

Where's the Grand Oompa Loompa? Are they already making plans to run the country without him?

More importantly, how did women make it into that picture? I mean, they're white and all, but still.

They are rentals.

[Jeff V]

They will be Photoshopped out of the picture that Pence is actually taking.

[tgb]

When do we get to investigate and lock him up?

Just as soon as he swears into office, I think.

Against people of color, apparently.

Except orange people.

Where's the Grand Oompa Loompa? Are they already making plans to run the country without him?

More importantly, how did women make it into that picture? I mean, they're white and all, but still.

Fresh pussy for the boss to grab.

[Paingod]

Fresh pussy for the boss to grab.

Especially that one just to the right of Pence, nestled innocently between him and the Redcoat.

[Defiant]

Oh, look, Donald has changed his mind on something.

Donald Trump says he believes there is ‘some connectivity’ between humans and climate change in major u-turn

[Kraken]

Oh, look, Donald has changed his mind on something.

Donald Trump says he believes there is ‘some connectivity’ between humans and climate change in major u-turn

Sometimes I think his positions depend on whom he talked to last and how well they hit it off.

[gilraen]

Oh, look, Donald has changed his mind on something.

Donald Trump says he believes there is ‘some connectivity’ between humans and climate change in major u-turn

Sometimes I think his positions depend on whom he talked to last and how well they hit it off.

I'm convinced that's exactly what it is. The man doesn't read and gets his news at best from pundits and at worst from Twitter and "the internet". He has no personal opinions on anything other than his golf courses and female looks, and no world view other than "can I make a deal with this guy?"

[Zarathud]

Global warming could affect his golf courses and hotels. You can't get sandbags in gold.