US Politics XXXI-Lame Duck Obese Turtle

[anitram]

people are shaking their head wondering what in the world has gotten into this man,” the Utah Republican senator said.

No, we really aren't wondering what has "gotten into" this man.

He's been like this all along and your lot supported him every step of the way.

What a profile in courage, that Mitt.

 

[LuckyNumber7]

Just be appreciative that Mittens only sold 75% of his soul, but maintains some sense of self respect and dignity.

 

[anitram]

I agree that he's probably the least offensive of the current lot in Washington. And regardless of policy differences, I don't think that he'd have been a disastrous president either.

What I don't like is this pretense of shock about Trump's behaviour all of a sudden. As if he was totally above board all along and then got abducted by aliens.

 

[LuckyNumber7]

He’s playing statesman, it’s gross and all but he’s clearly trying to court people who are willing to jump ship. Sanders is out doing the same thing right now... instead of shaming them, he’s offering them an out. You know Mitt hates Trumps’ guts and short of potentially getting a cabinet position he never supported Trump.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

No, we really aren't wondering what has "gotten into" this man.

He's been like this all along and your lot supported him every step of the way.

What a profile in courage, that Mitt.

I agree with you. I'm just living for the nutty and loopy part. You have to cling to any little sliver in 2020.

No other Republican has ever used the words nutty and loopy publicly, to my knowledge. They're all too ascared of Donnie and his base.

Btw Donnie says the martial law stuff is fake news. Of course he does.

 

[Irvine511]

So appropriate that a presidency that begins with Russia, ends with Russia. Is there anything he won’t do for them?

 

[BEAL]

And the irony of it all is that the only thing Russia never hacked....was her emails.

These last 30 days are going to be even crazier.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

TheHill.com

Thousands of Trump supporters are planning a virtual "second inauguration" for President Trump on Jan. 20, the same day as President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration.

More than 60,000 people have indicated on Facebook that they plan to attend the event being billed as "Donald J. Trump 2nd Presidential Inauguration Ceremony."

"Disclaimer: We are a grassroots collection of private individuals 325,000 strong, showing our support for President Donald J. Trump. We have no affiliation with any formal organization," says the page's description.

Facebook has added a disclaimer to the page that states, "Joe Biden is the President-elect. He will be inaugurated as the 46th US President on January 20, 2021."



The event is scheduled to take place at 12 p.m. EST on Jan. 20, around the time of Biden's swearing-in, and will be hosted by Ilir Chami and Evi Kokalari, who was reportedly part of Trump's 2020 campaign and regularly appears on right-leaning news networks such as One America News Network.

In a recent post on the Facebook page, Kokalari reposted Facebook's disclaimer and wrote, "Our voting rights are under attack! So is our freedom of speech! And FB's disclaimer on this post, proves just that."

 

[djparky]

Trump may not have finished causing trouble but at least you voted him out.. here in the UK we've got the Blonde Ape bumbling around like a f****** idiot, accompanied by the rest of the f***wits plunging this country into one crises after another- the latest being closed borders and a couple of thousand lorries stacked up in Kent, 36 hours after they were stopped from travelling

His response to this somewhat important problem- another bumbling press conference

 

[Hewson]

In a recent post on the Facebook page, Kokalari reposted Facebook's disclaimer and wrote, "Our voting rights are under attack! So is our freedom of speech! And FB's disclaimer on this post, proves just that."

It always amazes me how stupid some folks are and can't distinguish between a private platform like Facebook or Interference and public free speech. They can't comprehend that the private platform has the right to restrict what's posted there.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

Televangelist Pat Robertson acknowledged on Monday's 700 Club that President-elect Joe Biden won, predicted "we'll be seeing a President Kamala Harris not too long after the inauguration of President Biden," and said it's time for President Trump to concede and retire from politics. Robertson, a leading voice of the religious right since the 1980s, has generally — though not always — backed Trump, along with most other prominent evangelical Christian leaders.


After conceding that Biden will take office and predicting he will either die or resign before too long, Robertson said "it would be a mistake" for Trump to run again in 2024. "My money would be on Nikki Haley," he added. "I think she'd make a tremendous candidate for the Republican Party." Robertson then offered a sober assessment of Trump.

"You know, with all his talent and the ability to be able to raise money and grow large crowds, the president still lives in an alternate reality," Robertson said. "He really does. People say, 'Well, he lies about this, that, and the other.' But no, he isn't lying; to him, that's the truth." He said Trump has "done a marvelous job for the economy, but at the same time he is very erratic, and he's fired people and he's fought people and he's insulted people and he keeps going down the line." With Trump, "it's a mixed bag," Robertson said, "and I think it would be well to say, 'You've had your day and it's time to move on.'"




"Pat Robertson just proved that evolution exists, even in people who don't believe in evolution," comedian John Fugelsang quipped. But Trump can take a shred of comfort in the fact that Robertson's predictions haven't always — or even usually — borne out. In October, for example, he said God told him Trump would be re-elected, then an asteroid would hit the Earth.

 

[BEAL]

I’m just amazed that we have a sitting President who’s actively trying to find any possible way to overturn an election he lost and it’s met with “Meh, let him tire himself out”

While our institutions have held (barely) this time, this really only sets up for someone much more clever and smarter to succeed. At some point the laws / rules / norms will change to allow a successful “coup” or whatever word you want to call it.

And what he and staff are doing is illegal. Attempted robbery is still a crime

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

And what he and staff are doing is illegal. Attempted robbery is still a crime

Wouldn't it be great if, the day Trump leaves office, SDNY or any other group investigating him for all his crimes had enough by then to tell him to come with them so that he could start answering whatever questions they had for him, or something else of that sort? Anything to help zap any chance at him holding a rally/giving a speech of his own or doing anything else to try and distract from Biden's inauguration and further fan the flames for his cult members that day, I'd be all for it.

That "virtual second inauguration" idea is hilariously dumb. This is why people mock you, Trump supporters.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

Interesting...

New York(CNN Business)The private bankers responsible for lending to President Donald Trump and Jared Kushner have resigned from Deutsche Bank, the bank said.

"Rosemary Vrablic and Dominic Scalzi have tendered their resignations to Deutsche Bank effective as of year-end, which was accepted by the bank," Daniel Hunter, a spokesman for the bank said in a statement.

 

[Hewson]

Mother won't be happy, Donnie is turning on Mikey now...

https://www.salon.com/2020/12/22/tr...is-anger-over-his-election-loss-grows-report/

President Donald Trump has turned on everyone -- including Vice President Mike Pence and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell -- as he continues trying to overturn his election loss to Joe Biden.

The president has been meeting with conspiracy theorists and other fringe characters in the Oval Office to discuss ways to override the will of the voters and the U.S. Constitution, and Axios co-founder Mike Allen reported that Trump has grown paranoid about his own vice president and the Republican majority leader.

"We have late reporting out of the White House last night that President Trump now is turning on Vice President Pence, on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, on the White House counsel [Pat Cipollone] -- anyone who doesn't want to go out and impound voting machines is now suddenly considered by the president to be weak," Allen told MSNBC's "Way Too Early." So one example of this, the Lincoln Project which always seems to get inside the president's head, ran an ad saying that Vice President Pence was turning on Trump, and sources tell Jonathan Swan that this clearly stuck in the president's head. He's starting to doubt even Mike Pence."

Axios reported Monday night that Trump was trying to set fellow Republicans against McConnell, who the president insisted was indebted to him for his re-election in Kentucky.

"He had his personal assistant last night send around to Republican lawmakers a [Power Point] slide arguing that Senate Majority Mitch McConnell was, quote, 'First off the ship,' and Trump taking credit for McConnell's win in Kentucky," Allen said. "Of course, the president had nothing to do with that. If anything, the president created headwinds because McConnell won and Trump didn't."

 

[BEAL]

The pardons begin....

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

And Donnie is refusing to sign the stimulus bill unless the check amount is increased.

Merry Christmas!

 

[phanan]

I mean, take away all of the other BS he went on about, and he’s not wrong. It should be higher.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

I mean, take away all of the other BS he went on about, and he’s not wrong. It should be higher.

Yes it should be higher. But where was he during the negotiations? Having meetings about martial law and whining about the election.

Swoops in now so he can try to take the credit and make himself look good.

 

[BEAL]

Puts Turtle in a weird position since his tea party / Russian cohorts oppose any stimulus

Let them fight but of course we suffer the most

 

[dabiggestu2fan]

I mean, take away all of the other BS he went on about, and he’s not wrong. It should be higher.

He had plenty of time to say something... why all the sudden? Just trying to make himself look like the hero!

 

[dabiggestu2fan]

So trump pardons Paul Manafort, Roger Stone and Charles Kushner! Ofcourse he will pardon all his friends and family! Once pardoned is that it? Or can they turn back pardons?

 

[LuckyNumber7]

Pretty sure that’s that, unless Trump himself were to be committing crimes

 

[dabiggestu2fan]

Pretty sure that’s that, unless Trump himself were to be committing crimes

Ugh disgusting! These people will get away with their crimes! I guess there will be many more pardons to come.

 

[BEAL]

Yes, there will be more. And now with Barr officially done in DOJ, Trump may be able to pressure the new guy to open investigations he’s been whining for over the years.

 

[Irvine511]

These pardons are obstructions of justice.

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

I'm hoping that anyone who's currently involved in and working on investigations into Trump starts calling in all these people he's just pardoned. As I understand it, they don't get to hide behind their Fifth Amendment rights anymore now they've been pardoned, and they'd have to testify and cooperate with any investigations and/or trials, and tell the truth as well, if they want to avoid any potential jail time for perjury or refusal to cooperate.

Let Trump's decision to pardon them come back to bite him in the ass.

 

[Irvine511]

I think we can all agree that the Russia skeptics were right. Innocent people with nothing to hide who haven’t been bribed not to cooperate via the promise of a pardon never get pardoned.

That would be wrong.

 

[BEAL]

Absolute disgrace what they did, and even worse now with getting away with it (I’m not holding my breath on State charges).

Speaking of States, Mitch has really fucked things up with omitting funds for state and local governments in the stimulus Bill. This is how he planned to sabotage economic recovery under Biden. States are going to have to dip into reserves and probably have cuts and layoffs. Of course there is no stimulus at the moment because Trump went and blew it up. There’s talk he may “pocket veto” the bill, which is basically him doing nothing with it and allowing the 116th congress to end at midnight January 3rd.

Another twist to this is the bill funds the government till the summer. If not signed by Sunday we have another shutdown.

The federal government is now Trump Casino :-/

 

[Hewson]

The federal government is now Trump Casino :-/

All we need to complete the picture is Melania saying "let them eat Trump steaks" about the struggling folks who now have to wait longer for help.