Trump's America

[zoogs]

Does it? ...Niger doesn't deserve to be blown up and made into something Trump owns? Benghazi did?

--

Conservatives, don't continue to make this choice. You don't have to follow your party off this cliff.

[TGHusker]

Imagine a bunch of 'mini-Trumps' around the world.   Other Trump like leaders.  Oh the joy.  So what happens when 2 brick heads meet head on?

Seems like we are moving away from global cooperation and more towards isolation, nationalism, and the rise of potential conflicts as a result. 

 

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/10/23/all-presidents-men-and-women-trump-like-leaders-proliferate/789931001/

[BigRedBuster]

Interesting thread. 

 

 

[zoogs]

This came from that thread and is just so apropos:

 

 

[Danny Bateman]

Thread:
 

 

(Some adult language.)

Feels good to laugh about all of this nonsense sometimes. 

[Fru]

 

Nice string of tweets by the ever so classy Joe Walsh, attacking a grieving war widow. Never thought those words would be uttered. 

[commando]

[Fru]

I'm just really curious as to how the GOP would have reacted if Obama had attacked war widows and Gold Star families. 

[TGHusker]

38 minutes ago, Fru said:

I'm just really curious as to how the GOP would have reacted if Obama had attacked war widows and Gold Star families. 

I'm trying to figure out something about this GOP leadership

1.  They they as cold hearted as Trump and just don't care about any of this

2.  Are they biting their tongue until they pass something and then they will 'betray' Trump and seek to remove him - after the 2018 election

3. Are they clueless and soulless - about Trump, budgets, culture, impeachment 

 

I can't believe they don't see this all of this crap and still not speak out except for a few like  McCain, Coker, and a few others.  If they were leaders ... I can stop there - they aren't leaders.

[Fru]

2 minutes ago, TGHusker said:

I'm trying to figure out something about this GOP leadership

1.  They they as cold hearted as Trump and just don't care about any of this

2.  Are they biting their tongue until they pass something and then they will 'betray' Trump and seek to remove him - after the 2018 election

3. Are they clueless and soulless - about Trump, budgets, culture, impeachment 

 

I can't believe they don't see this all of this crap and still not speak out except for a few like  McCain, Coker, and a few others.  If they were leaders ... I can stop there - they aren't leaders.

 

1. I believe plenty of them are. Maybe not the majority, but he has plenty of support from his party. Joe Walsh is going out of his way to justify attacking a war widow. I just can't believe that this is where we are. 

 

2. I think this is a fair amount. They're holding their nose as they vote for his nominees and such and are merely towing the party line until it all becomes too much to bear (Ben Sasse I'm lookin at you). My question is when will this become too much to bear? Howard Dean had a goofy scream at a rally and it all came crashing down. Trump is attacking war widows and GOPers are behind him. What will it take (if anything) for the GOP to do say "enough" 

 

3. I'd say this is the "everyone else" category. As long as they can get their tax cuts, they don't care who is hurt along the way. 

 

I think they all see it. Some see it and are behind it, and some see it and choose to do nothing. I'm not sure which is worse. 

 

 

[TGHusker]

fru - good points.   What is worse - Seeing it and not doing anything.   

[BigRedBuster]

11 minutes ago, TGHusker said:

I'm trying to figure out something about this GOP leadership

1.  They they as cold hearted as Trump and just don't care about any of this

2.  Are they biting their tongue until they pass something and then they will 'betray' Trump and seek to remove him - after the 2018 election

3. Are they clueless and soulless - about Trump, budgets, culture, impeachment 

 

I can't believe they don't see this all of this crap and still not speak out except for a few like  McCain, Coker, and a few others.  If they were leaders ... I can stop there - they aren't leaders.

 

I personally think most of them are a combination of 2 and 3.  

 

Deep down, they know the guy is an idiot and everyone knows it.  They secretly go puke when they wake up in the morning and read his tweets attacking gold star families.  However, they try to tell them it's somehow caused by the pizza they ate the night before.

 

The problem is, everyone in Washington has worked within the two party system for so long that they know that's how they got to Washington in the first place.  They know that's how the've been able to stay in Washington as long as they have.  They know that they are supposed to tow the party line and they don't even question it.  It is the farthest thing from their minds to actually critically react appropriately to Trump.

 

I honestly don't believe most of them realize how bad it looks and how bad it is just follow along with the party on this.  After all, this guy has an R beside his name.  Why the hell would we even question it?

 

 

[TGHusker]

Now this is visionary leadership:  Saudi Arabia is trying to modernize environmentally and culturally. 

 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-24/saudi-arabia-to-build-new-mega-city-on-country-s-north-coast

 

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced plans to build a new city on the Red Sea coast, promising a lifestyle not available in today’s Saudi Arabia as he seeks to remake the kingdom in a time of dwindling resources.

 

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/saudi-arabia-return-moderate-open-11400298

The crown prince of Saudi Arabia has revealed the country will return to moderate, open Islam.

Mohammad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud also announced the kingdom would do more to tackle extremism today.

Speaking at the Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh he said: "We want to go back to what we were, the moderate Islam that is open to the world, open to all the religions.

"We will not waste 30 years of our lives dealing with extremist ideas, we will destroy them today".

The conference, which runs until Thursday, aims to show how the country is opening itself up to the modern world and diversifying economically.

Prince bin Salman was appointed heir to the throne of Saudi Arabia by his father King Salman earlier this year.

The 32-year-old is seen as the face of the modern kingdom and is the driving force behind its long term economic plan to wean itself off dependence on oil by 2030.

Last month the ultra-conservative Kingdom issued an order lifting the 60-year ban on women driving.

 

Question (I'm full of questions today)  How soon before Trump takes credit for Saudi moderation (remember his sooooooo successful trip to SA and Middle East at the beginning of his presidency).

[TGHusker]

2 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

 

I personally think most of them are a combination of 2 and 3.  

 

Deep down, they know the guy is an idiot and everyone knows it.  They secretly go puke when they wake up in the morning and read his tweets attacking gold star families.  However, they try to tell them it's somehow caused by the pizza they ate the night before.

 

The problem is, everyone in Washington has worked within the two party system for so long that they know that's how they got to Washington in the first place.  They know that's how the've been able to stay in Washington as long as they have.  They know that they are supposed to tow the party line and they don't even question it.  It is the farthest thing from their minds to actually critically react appropriately to Trump.

 

I honestly don't believe most of them realize how bad it looks and how bad it is just follow along with the party on this.  After all, this guy has an R beside his name.  Why the hell would we even question it?

 

 

Yes, the R or the D behind the name has led to a lot of bad behavior - action and inaction - throughout the years. 

[TGHusker]

Coker is speaking out forcefully and not backing down.  Trump tweets back and Coker clobbers him again.

 

http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/trump-corker-feud/2017/10/24/id/821729/

 

Sen. Bob Corker blasted President Donald Trump Tuesday morning, shortly before the president was to discuss tax negotiations with lawmakers at lunch, accusing Trump of having "great difficulty with the truth" and predicting his legacy will be the "debasement of our nation."

"I think the things that are happening right now that are harmful to our nation, whether it's the breaking down of — we are going to be doing hearings on some of the things that he purposely is breaking down — relationships we have around the world that have been useful to our nation," Corker told CNN's Manu Raju, and other reporters, in a Capitol Hill hallway interview.

"But I think at the end of the day, when his term is over, I think the debasing of our nation, the constant non-truth telling, just the name-calling . . . I think the debasement of our nation will be what he'll be remembered most for, and that's regretful," he added.

 

The senator later spoke once again to reporters, after Trump's tweets, and decried the "attempted bullying that he does, which everybody sees through."

"You would think he would aspire to be the president of the United States, and act like a president of the United States," Corker said. "You know, that's just not going to be the case apparently. And it's up to others who serve in an elected capacity, whether they're governor or mayors to conduct themselves in a manner that is more becoming of a leader. But he's obviously, you know, not up to that."

Corker added that he has had private meetings with Trump and had several occasions "where the staff has asked me to please intervene [when he was] getting ready to do something that was off the tracks." (TG:  this is a scary thought )

The senator said he is speaking out because he had been in a "pretty tough business, that, you know, started when I was 25," and he's often met up with people with "mentalities of our current president, and have through life just learned how you deal with it."

Corker's strong comments came after appearances on NBC and ABC Tuesday morning, and after he'd said Trump's appearance on Capitol Hill later in the day to talk taxes was little more than a "photo op."

In his earlier hallway interview, Corker did stop short of outright calling Trump a liar.

 

"We grew up in our family not using the 'L' word, okay, but yeah, just I mean, they're provable untruths," Corker said. "Provable."

Trump has accused Corker, the chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, of helping President Barack Obama's efforts to push through the Iran nuclear deal, and has said the Republican decided not to seek reelection because he was not getting the president's endorsement.

"On the Iran deal, everybody knows the role I played there and they're working with me, interestingly, right now, on tax reform," Corker said. "A then everything else, four times, he encouraged me to run and told me he would endorse me."

Corker also said he thinks world leaders are "very aware" that much of what Trump says is not true.

"Certainly people here are, because these things are provably untrue," Corker said. "I don't know why he lowers himself to such a low, low standard and debases our country in the way he does but he does."

Corker also said he does not think Trump is a good role model to the nation's children, and that he is "purposely" breaking down relationships around the world.

"I think at the end of the day, when his term is over, I think the debasing of our nation, the constant non-truth telling, the name calling, the things, I think the debasement of our nation will be what he will be remembered most for and that's regretful," Corker said.

 

Corker would not comment directly if he trusts Trump with the nation's nuclear code, but "in our hearing process we will be addressing the fact that he, with only the one other person on the defense side, has tremendous powers . . . I expressed concerns a few weeks ago about his leadership and just his stability and the lack of desire to be competent on issues and understand and, you know, nothing has changed."     (TG: This deserves several of these: )

The senator said he doesn't want to make the feud between him and Trump as a daily issue, as there is work to do.

"There are some really good people around him and if he would stay out of their way and let them perform, people like [Rex] Tillerson and [James] Mattis and others, you know, we could really make progress on things that matter greatly to our country," he said.