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Re: US Politics Thread
What got Trump elected was treating a large portion of the country like shit, Bernie Sanders and Hillary's horrible campaign. If anything, the majority of people who voted for him hated him, so it was more a rejection of liberalism than support of Trump.
Re: US Politics Thread
What got Trump elected was treating a large portion of the country like shit, Bernie Sanders and Hillary's horrible campaign. If anything, the majority of people who voted for him hated him, so it was more a rejection of liberalism than support of Trump.
Sounds like a good definition of conservative hyesteria to me.
Re: US Politics Thread
The Day Trump Told Us There Was Attempted Collusion with Russia
August 5, 1974, was the day the Nixon Presidency ended. On that day, Nixon heeded a Supreme Court ruling and released the so-called smoking-gun tape, a recording of a meeting, held two years earlier, with his chief of staff, H. R. Haldeman. Many of Nixon’s most damaging statements came in the form of short, monosyllabic answers and near-grunts—“um huh,” the official transcript reads, at one point—as he responds to Haldeman’s idea of asking the C.I.A. to tell the F.B.I. to “stay the hell out of” the Watergate investigation. The coverup is clearly of Haldeman’s design. Nixon’s words are simple: “All right. Fine.” Then, “Right, fine.”
Haldeman’s idea seemed clever. He believed the F.B.I. was close to concluding that the break-in at the Democratic National Committee offices at the Watergate hotel was the work of a C.I.A.-led operation, which had something to do with Cuba and the Bay of Pigs. Nobody would have to actually lie, he seems to suggest—it wasn’t “unusual” for the C.I.A. to warn the F.B.I. to drop an investigation that could harm national security. “And that will fit rather well because the F.B.I. agents who are working the case, at this point, feel that’s what it is. This is C.I.A.”
Nixon’s strongest statement to Haldeman is, surprisingly, a word of caution. “Don’t lie to them to the extent to say there is no involvement, but just say this is sort of a comedy of errors, bizarre, without getting into it,” he says. “Say that we wish, for the country, don’t go any further into this case, period!” When Nixon released the tape, he acknowledged that it would lead to his impeachment. Three days later, he resigned the Presidency.
Listening to the tape today, it’s hard not to imagine an alternate strategy, one that Nixon’s aide, Roger Ailes—hired at Haldeman’s request—would surely have endorsed. Nixon could have released the tape himself and declared it as proof of his innocence, pointing out that he did, in fact, tell Haldeman not to lie. He could have argued that he didn’t mean “yes” when he said “um huh”—that the transcript should have read “unh-unh,” a clear sign that he was against the whole scheme. Instead of embracing impeachment, congressional Republicans could have supported an effort to do just what Haldeman and Nixon had attempted: end the investigation.
On August 5, 2018, precisely forty-four years after the collapse of the Nixon Presidency, another President, Donald Trump, made his own public admission. In one of a series of early-morning tweets, Trump addressed a meeting that his son Donald, Jr., held with a Russian lawyer affiliated with the Russian government. “This was a meeting to get information on an opponent, totally legal and done all the time in politics - and it went nowhere,” he wrote. “I did not know about it!”
The tweet contains several crucial pieces of information. First, it is a clear admission that Donald Trump, Jr.,’s original statement about the case was inaccurate enough to be considered a lie. He had said the meeting was with an unknown person who “might have information helpful to the campaign,” and that this person “primarily discussed a program about the adoption of Russian children.” This false statement was, according to his legal team, dictated by the President himself. There was good reason to mislead the American people about that meeting. Based on reporting—at the time and now—of the President’s admission, it was a conscious effort by the President’s son and two of his closest advisers to work with affiliates of the Russian government to obtain information that might sway the U.S. election in Trump’s favor. In short, it was, at minimum, a case of attempted collusion. The tweet indicates that Trump’s defense will continue to be that this attempt at collusion failed—“it went nowhere”—and that, even if it had succeeded, it would have been “totally legal and done all the time.” It is unclear why, if the meeting was entirely proper, it was important for the President to declare “I did not know about it!” or to tell the Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, to “stop this Rigged Witch Hunt right now.”
The President’s Sunday-morning tweet should be seen as a turning point. It doesn’t teach us anything new—most students of the case already understand what Donald Trump, Jr., Paul Manafort, and Jared Kushner knew about that Trump Tower meeting. But it ends any possibility of an alternative explanation. We can all move forward understanding that there is a clear fact pattern about which there is no dispute:
The President’s son and top advisers knowingly met with individuals connected to the Russian government, hoping to obtain dirt on their political opponent.
Documents stolen from the Democratic National Committee and members of the Clinton campaign were later used in an overt effort to sway the election.
When the Trump Tower meeting was uncovered, the President instructed his son and staff to lie about the meeting, and told them precisely which lies to use.
The President is attempting to end the investigation into this meeting and other instances of attempted collusion between his campaign staff and representatives of the Russian government.
It was possible, just days ago, to believe—with an abundance of generosity toward the President and his team—that the meeting was about adoption, went nowhere, and was overblown by the Administration’s enemies. No longer. The open questions are now far more narrow: Was this a case of successful or only attempted collusion? Is attempted collusion a crime? What legal and moral responsibilities did the President and his team have when they realized that the proposed collusion was underway when the D.N.C. e-mails were leaked and published? And, crucially, what did the President know before the election, after it, and when he instructed his son to lie?
Earlier on Sunday, Trump wrote another tweet, one that repeated a common refrain: journalists are the enemy of the people. “I am providing a great service by explaining this to the American People,” it read. In a way, he did provide a great service. He allowed us to move away from a no-longer-relevant debate about whether or not he and his campaign had done anything wrong. Our nation can now focus on another question: What do we do when a President has openly admitted to attempted collusion, lying, and a coverup?
Re: US Politics Thread
I'm still in awe of how many people seriously want to suck trumps dick. Collusion with Russia isn't illegal so who gives a fuck. Heard put an R next to the name and they can do no wrong.
It's all semantics from his defenders (traitors IMO). Yea sure, "collusion" isn't illegal, but conspiring most certainly is. It's blatantly obvious that's what he did, along with shitty junior.
Trump has been going nuclear the last few days because he knows they've got his sorry ass.
Re: US Politics Thread
Mueller is getting embarrassed in court in the Manafort case. Jesus.
I'm sorry, but this is ridiculous.
Manafort is about to go to jail for the rest of his life for various crimes, and Mueller is "getting embarrassed." What are you even talking about?
Re: US Politics Thread
New jobs numbers out.
Slightly under expectations, but fundamental good. Unemployment down to 3.9%.
Wages up 2.7% for the year. Not amazing but higher than 2017.
Overall we are still going the right way. Hopefully we can see more wage growth.
When adjusted for inflation they actually fell.
Again, I remember when Obama was president and none of these numbers were real. Trump said they were all fake and so did anybody with an R next to their name. Today...great news!
- Smoking Guns
- Rep: 330
Re: US Politics Thread
Smoking Guns wrote:New jobs numbers out.
Slightly under expectations, but fundamental good. Unemployment down to 3.9%.
Wages up 2.7% for the year. Not amazing but higher than 2017.
Overall we are still going the right way. Hopefully we can see more wage growth.
When adjusted for inflation they actually fell.
Again, I remember when Obama was president and none of these numbers were real. Trump said they were all fake and so did anybody with an R next to their name. Today...great news!
Inflation is pretty much non existent. The fed is causing some inflation IMO with all the rate hikes. Supply and Demand is pushing some sectors up, like lumber for example.
Re: US Politics Thread
misterID wrote:Mueller is getting embarrassed in court in the Manafort case. Jesus.
I'm sorry, but this is ridiculous.
Manafort is about to go to jail for the rest of his life for various crimes, and Mueller is "getting embarrassed." What are you even talking about?
I already wrote it, the judge lambasted them over and over. And he's going to get a pardon.
Re: US Politics Thread
misterID wrote:What got Trump elected was treating a large portion of the country like shit, Bernie Sanders and Hillary's horrible campaign. If anything, the majority of people who voted for him hated him, so it was more a rejection of liberalism than support of Trump.
Sounds like a good definition of conservative hyesteria to me.
Why didn't your fellow douchebag Bernie bros not vote for her then? How was that conservative hysteria? Why did some of your douchebag bros vote for Trump? How was it hysteria that Hillary ignored the rust belt which she needed to win? Why was it hysteria?
