When will Trump get impeached?

[knapplc]

The worst job in Washington right now: Working for Trump

 

But his team is growing increasingly weary. Privately, they say, the problem is not an incompetent communications shop, as the president sometimes gripes, or an ineffectual chief of staff, as friends and outside operatives repeatedly warn, but the man in the Oval Office, whose preferred management style is one of competing factions and organized chaos.

 

One West Wing official recently stopped defending Trump or trying to explain away his more controversial behavior. Another characterized the operation as “trudging along,” with aides trying to focus their attention on Trump’s upcoming foreign trip and the budget landing next week.

 

For many White House staffers, impromptu support groups of friends, confidants and acquaintances have materialized, calling and texting to check in, inquiring about their mental state and urging them to take care of themselves.

 

One Republican operative in frequent contact with White House officials described them as “going through the stages of grief.” Another said some aides have “moved to angry,” frustrated with a president who demands absolute loyalty but in recent days has publicly tarnished the credibility of his team by sending them out with one message, only to personally undercut it later with a contradicting tweet or public comment.

 

And a third said that others are now sticking around purely for self-interest, hoping to juice their future earning potential. This Republican added that any savvy White House staffer should be keeping a diary. “The real question is: How long do you put up with it?,” this person said. “Every one of those people could get a better paying job and work less hours.”

 

The Trump White House has always been full of leaks to the news media. But the latest waves of anonymous griping have subtly shifted from warring aides bickering among themselves to staffers training their frustrations on the president, as well. Those who remain fully loyal to Trump report a growing sense of isolation.

 

Chris Whipple, author of “The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency,” said the most important duty of a chief of staff is to prevent “end runs” — including the situation in which Trump allegedly asked to meet privately with the head of the FBI, which is investigating his campaign.

 

“The White House staff system is completely broken, maybe beyond repair. It is inconceivable that something like that could have happened on James Baker or Leon Panetta’s watch,” Whipple said, referring to chiefs of staff under previous presidents. “The problem with this White House is that there is no one, including Priebus, who is able to tell the president what he doesn’t want to hear and until there is, this White House will be broken, will be dysfunctional and so will Trump’s presidency.”

 

 

Maybe we'll have to see. If this is correct, and people are this upset & frustrated and being counseled to "keep a diary," maybe there'll be enough information that comes out in the aftermath of this thing to prosecute.

[zoogs]

If we do go down the road to impeachment, I expect there'll be a good deal of people doing their utmost to claim the moral high ground. They're going to sell Trump out in the hopes we'll all forget the extent to which (some of them) signed on to implement his agenda. It's not surprising that Trump is making enemies of his own, but not all enemies of enemies are friends.

[NM11046]

An excellent overview of our situation (though this was 5/4 so things have evolved a bit) and explanation of impeachment vs Amendment 25 vs what options that actually brings.

 

http://www.npr.org/2017/05/04/526857048/trump-s-fitness-to-serve-is-officially-part-of-the-discussion-in-congress

[BigRedBuster]

Yooohoooo....Mr. Rusty Shackleford.......

 

[RedDenver]

I'm not sure which thread to put this in, so I'll just put it here. I've been thinking about why Putin would offer "transcripts" of the meeting between his spies ambassadors and Trump, and it occurs to me that maybe Putin is better served if Trump gets impeached. If Putin's goal is to tear down the US and he's shown a desire to create maximum chaos with his foes, then maybe Russia releases information that implicates Trump. Think of the maelstrom that would create, especially if a few other key figures like Pence, Bannon, Priebus, etc. were also implicated (even falsely implicated).

 

This looks even more likely an outcome given that GOP leadership suspected Trump was on Putin's payroll last year.

[BigRedBuster]

Here's the laughable part of Putin's offer. It's transcripts. I could write up a transcript for the meeting too and submit it. I'm sure it would be 100% accurate even though I wasn't there.

 

Putin is a pathetic person who can't be trusted even though this administration believes they can be.

[zoogs]

I've little doubt he would really provide accurate transcripts. This is a gleeful victory lap. "Look what I have, you guys, neener neener."

 

I don't think the transcripts are important or necessary. Trump ran his mouth because he is a bumbling fool -- if you want to optimistically believe in his total innocence and write off everything as naivete.

 

Putin is doing nothing more than emphasizing the extent of U.S. humiliation in this sad episode.

[sho]

 

Somehow we must have invented a time machine in the future. His twitter feed reads like future Donald Trump going into the past and tweeting to warn current President Trump of stupid things to not do and he does them anyway.

[Red Five]

Trump not making it 4 years is now the online betting favorite

 

[knapplc]

Flashback to October, when Trump was on the campaign trail:

Trump: If elected, I’ll appoint a special prosecutor to look into Clinton’s emails

"I didn’t think I’d say this and I’m going to say it and I hate to say it. … If I win, I am going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation because there has never been so many lies, so much deception," Trump said.

 

Trump has made Clinton's use of email a central issue on the campaign trail.

 

"We're going to get a special prosecutor and we're going to look into it," he said.

 

 

 

 

But today, when he's under the microscope:

 

 

[Enhance]

Wait, he won BECAUSE of the Electoral College, and he's complaining against it?

 

Our last two Republicans presidents became presidents because of the College.

[knapplc]

Our last two Republicans presidents became presidents because of the College.

Yes. It's pretty stunning to think that, if we didn't have the Electoral College acting as a buffer between the voters and the White House, that we wouldn't have had a Republican president for 25 years.

[BigRedBuster]

 

Our last two Republicans presidents became presidents because of the College.

Yes. It's pretty stunning to think that, if we didn't have the Electoral College acting as a buffer between the voters and the White House, that we wouldn't have had a Republican president for 25 years.

 

I'm not sure you can say that. For instance, if we hadn't had Bush, it's possible we wouldn't have had Obama.

[Enhance]

I think knapplc's point is more in relation to election results the last 25 years. The Democratic candidate has won the popular vote with the exception of the 2004 election.

 

Without the electoral college, one could certainly speculate that a Republican would not have made it into office. Bush was acting as incumbent in 2004 which is often viewed as an advantage in an election.

 

It is, of course, all moot.

[BigRedBuster]

I think knapplc's point is more in relation to election results the last 25 years. The Democratic candidate has won the popular vote with the exception of the 2004 election.

 

Without the electoral college, one could certainly speculate that a Republican would not have made it into office. Bush was acting as incumbent in 2004 which is often viewed as an advantage in an election.

 

It is, of course, all moot.

Valid point. It is amazing that a Republican has only won the popular vote once since 1988. (George Bush 1) 29 years.