We need to talk about Donald: the cursing & swearing thread

[Animavore]

Saw this and thought of Trump supporters.

[Animavore]

I like this one. Really highlights the difference between class, and trash.

[JimC]

Seriously, 42, examine the actual output of Trump, and reflect honestly as to whether you want this person to represent your nation...

[pErvinalia]

Transcripts of Trump's conversations with the Mexican and Australian leaders a week into his stint of pretending to be a President.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/na ... 975955d2bc

Gotta laugh and the Trump supporters calling the WaPo treasonous for posting the truth. Laugh, but also worry a little. Trump's irresponsible actions, turning people against the free press, could potentially lead to a disaster.

What was most enlightening about the convo with our PM is that despite his (Trump's) alleged business acumen about getting "deals" done, he had no idea what the actual details were of the deal between Australia and the US. It's no wonder he's been bankrupt so many times.

[pErvinalia]

I like this one. Really highlights the difference between class, and trash.

Yeah, but Obama is black. And a muslim.

[Brian Peacock]

Revealed in the Trump-Turnbull transcript: five things we knew and one we didn't

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... _clipboard

[Tero]

Russia? Russia? But her emails!!!!
http://dailysignal.com/2017/08/04/huma- ... y-scandal/

[Forty Two]

Nobody gives a fuck about Hillary. Hope we can get tot that with Trump by Christmas.

There is no shortage of fucks to give. Most people are able to give a variety of fucks about a variety of things, and people. It's not required that we assign all our fucks to one person or thing.

[mistermack]

Seriously, 42, examine the actual output of Trump, and reflect honestly as to whether you want this person to represent your nation...

I believe he does represent the US.
The enormous bit of the US that we don't often see in the media.

He's not necessarily like them, but he's what they aspire to. Which gives a real insight into the real America.

In any case, he's expressing what a lot of America actually thinks.

[Forty Two]

Transcripts of Trump's conversations with the Mexican and Australian leaders a week into his stint of pretending to be a President.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/na ... 975955d2bc

Gotta laugh and the Trump supporters calling the WaPo treasonous for posting the truth. Laugh, but also worry a little. Trump's irresponsible actions, turning people against the free press, could potentially lead to a disaster.

WaPo did nothing wrong by printing it. That's their job.

The concern is that someone in the Trump administration leaked these items. Generally, a President needs to be able to speak frankly with foreign leaders, and that frank talk is often different than the "fit for the nightly news" variety. I am sure we'd see a different side to Obama, Bush II, Clinton, Bush I, Reagan, Carter, Ford, etc. if we heard their conversations among advisers and with world leaders.

The issue is that Trump seems to have people purposefully undermining him throughout his administration. Who are these advisers who are disclosing confidential advice and discussions? Who are the assistants and officials handing out transcripts?

But, that's all beside the point. He has to simply proceed as if everything he says is on the record. End of story. This isn't going to stop. So, if there is any chance of him becoming a successful President, and there likely is no chance at this point, he has to knuckle down and live with the situation as he finds it. Nose to the grindstone and get some shit done.

[Tero]

The more Trump messes with his Cabinet the more it leaks. Building a wall? He can't even build a cabinet.

[Forty Two]

Seriously, 42, examine the actual output of Trump, and reflect honestly as to whether you want this person to represent your nation...

I believe he does represent the US.
The enormous bit of the US that we don't often see in the media.

He's not necessarily like them, but he's what they aspire to. Which gives a real insight into the real America.

In any case, he's expressing what a lot of America actually thinks.

I was not a Trump supporter when he announced. When he announced he was running, my reaction was negative. I don't think it's a great precedent - someone who just jumps from business man to President. Business man to state rep, to Governor to President, yes. Business man to House of Representatives to Senator to President, yes. Business man to Secretary of Commerce, yes. but, straight to the Presidency, not a good idea.

What Trump supporters like about him, though, is his outsider status. Outside of the political establishment. No need to point out that he's a billionaire, and billionaires aren't usually outsiders. But, he was not in the club. He was not even really a Republican. He wasn't backed by any machine or the GOP, and the GOP actually opposed him, actively opposed him. Remember that? Half the Republican Party were openly declaring they would never support Trump, and look what we have today....with a beleaguered Trump admin, fighting the Republican Party and the Democratic Party.

Now, so why did a large chunk of the population like him. I'll tell you why. Because he was talking about the things that are most important to working people and to middle class people, at least a large chunk of that demographic. He talked about fighting for American business and industry. He talked about unfair trade. He talked about over-regulation and wasteful government spending. He talked about the malaise we were in with both political parties lying to our faces every single day and we just bounce back from liar to liar.

That's why it doesn't move the Trump "base" when they say he lies all the time. Lying politicians are expected. People hated politicians in 2016 because every last one of them lies through their teeth and "pivot to the center" and "play to their base" and all that shit - euphemisms for "lying to get votes." Then when they get elected, they just do what they want and break their promises and fuck us all.

If you are old enough to remember H. Ross Perot in 1992 - Perot caused Bush the Elder to lose to Bill Clinton, because he ran as a third party candidate for the Reform Party, which had the main plank in its platform of opposing NAFTA. Ross Perot's "giant sucking sound" as he called it, would take industry and jobs from the US and send them overseas. He was a businessman, and ran for President, and spoke only in practicalities, and he got a nice percentage of of mostly Republican votes - like 20% of the popular vote in 1992 went to Ross Perot. Clinton got 43% and Bush the Elder got 37%.

There was, even then, a large dissatisfaction with both major parties. For 40 years now, there has been a struggling libertarian party which has been fighting hardscrabble to get into the big leagues and be accepted as a major party. But, the media hates libertarians, and the big 2 parties squeeze them out. But, it's all part of the dissatisfaction with the two sides of the same coin, and the getting fucked by one or fucked by the other result. It's the dissatisfaction with the choice between, as south park put it nearly 20 years ago, A Giant Douche vs. a Turd Sandwich.

So, the reason the people don't care about him exaggerating or stretching the truth or even lying about miscellaneous stuff, is that they see the mainstream politicians as worse liars - they lie to your face about the important stuff. They see Trump as truthful in spirit and at heart - when he says he wants a strong border and a border wall, they think he means it. When they say he wants to protect American workers, they think he means it. They think he means it when he says he wants the US to have a strong economy, strong military, and secure borders, and opportunity and prosperity.

So, while the opponents of Trump like to say that his supporters are all the deplorable racists, sexists, homophobes, transphobes, Islamophobes.... all that. That just makes the supporters say, "well, fuck you, too!" They don't see themselves as biased or hateful like that, and they are sick of the endless accusations that they are. So, who else can they support? The guy who says that "Mexico is sending bad people across the border... they're sending rapists, etc." and the Trump base understands what he means that while most Mexicans are just fine, there are those coming across the border that are dangerous, and then they see the headlines that say "Trump says all Mexicans are rapists." They say, again, "well, fuck you too! we know he didn't say that, so go fuck yourselves." And, you wonder why they don't trust the media, and applaud when he or his spokesperson takes them to task. It's because even the straight news on CNN contains spin. They're sick of that.

Also, there are large percentages of Americans who really are aware that people talk "inappropriately" in different contexts are not as shocked and bothered by Trump's vulgarity. They know that politicians and businessmen talk like truck drivers among themselves, and they expect it. They aren't shaken by these things. They say, again, "fuck you, too, at least he's not a hypocrite." They wonder why Trump is such a bad representative, when McCain was a wild-man, cursed and curses like a truck driver, and yet, Trump's the one who is so different? They're like, stop playing holier-than-thou. You're all a bunch of scumbags. That's what motivates the base of Trump. It's not racism. It's not xenophobia. It's not Islamophobia. it's not transphobia. It's "fuck you, we're sick of all your lies and hypocrisy, and we'll take this other guy whose a business man and not a politician, since we have no other choice but another pandering, lying, "pivoting" and "playing" politician..."

[Brian Peacock]

Just listened to Trump's sermon to the faithful in Huntington, West Virginia. He claimed that the Russia-Trump investigations were 'a fake story' and are 'demeaning to our country and out constitution' (right on the first point, wrong on the second imo), and that there can only be one 'honest determination', the determination that America 'wants' and 'deserves' - that the Democrats have made the whole thing up.

The rally closed with a choral rendition of the Stones' You Can't Always Get What You Want'...

• ...You can't always get what you want
  But if you try sometimes,
  Well you might find,
  You get what you need.

What Trump needs is for the whole thing to go away and for him to be proclaimed a standup guy - but not only can you not always get what you want Mr President, you can't always get what you need either.

Senators launch bipartisan effort to ensure Trump cannot fire Mueller

US senators from both parties are seeking to protect the special counsel Robert Mueller from being fired by Donald Trump, marking the first bipartisan bid by lawmakers to impose a check on the president against the backdrop of the Russia investigation.

A pair of bills were unveiled on Thursday, co-sponsored by both Republicans and Democrats in the Senate, that would take measures to bar the president from directly firing the special counsel investigating Russian interference in the 2016 US election and any involvement by the president and his team.

Mueller, who was appointed after Trump fired the then FBI director, James Comey, in May, has convened a grand jury in Washington, according to a Wall Street Journal report published Thursday, in a sign that his inquiry is escalating.

Ty Cobb, special counsel to the president, said he was not aware that Mueller had convened a grand jury – a powerful institution in the US government charged with both investigating potential criminal conduct as well as determining whether criminal charges should be brought.

“Grand jury matters are typically secret,” said Cobb, in a statement provided by the White House.

“The White House favors anything that accelerates the conclusion of his work fairly ... The White House is committed to fully cooperating with Mr Mueller.”

A spokesperson for Mueller would not confirm the report.

Reuters reported that grand jury subpoenas had been issued in relation to the June 2016 meeting between Donald Trump Jr, the president’s eldest son, and the Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya....

And there's more...

Don't know how he's going to pin this on the Democrats, but I'm sure he'll do his best.

[Forty Two]

Well, let's see, if the President has the constitutional authority to fire the Special Counsel, then it would be an interesting constitutional question whether the Congress has the constitutional authority to bar him from doing so. For example, if the Congress passed a law that said the President could not fire the Attorney General, I think that would be unconstitutional. I am not certain how the political question falls on this issue.

But, I highly doubt Trump would fire Mueller in any case. He would really have to have a rock-solid good reason. Just "I don't like the fact that they're investigating" is not enough.

This whole Mueller thing is partly payback for Kenneth Starr. And, Mueller is looking all over the place for anything. They are even going through Trump's businesses, unrelated to Russia stuff, to try to find something to pin on him. Maybe they'll find something legitimate, maybe they won't. But, with the way the US tax, securities, and other business-related laws are written, it is usually possible to make a colorable accusation against anyone engaged in large businesses.

However, I think that even if some charge is brought against him, if it's not about Russia collusion or Russia hacking, then it'll be a win for Trump. If they come out and say that he committed a violation of Reg D of the Securities and Exchange Act, or screwed up in some private offering memorandum, misallocated campaign contributions among his entities or something, or took an improper tax write-off or long term depreciation, it's going to a big nothing and he'll hoist it up as proof that they were just grasping at straws. And, using a special prosecutor for a fishing expedition is wholly improper.

So, for me, this whole grand jury thing is very interesting, but I am still waiting to see where the beef is, as the old Wendy's commercial used to say. "Where's the beef?!" I read articles blasting the news "Mueller empanels grand jury!" Big deal? A grand jury was expected.

Grand juries are the district attorney's babies. They decide who gets picked, what evidence gets presented, and what gets left out. There’s no judge, no defense attorney, and generally a defendant only testifies in rare circumstances — i.e. when when there’s no down side in putting him in. There’s no necessity for unanimity among the 23 jurors, and the standard of proof is so low — that probable cause exists to believe a crime has been committed — anyone, for the merest hint of an offense, can get indicted.

So, it's a real risk for Trump, but it's not unexpected. But, it's a gamble on the part of the prosecutor, too, in this instance, because if they can't indict the Trump ham sandwich, then that's about as solid proof as you would need of Trump's complete innocence. Either Mueller is a complete incompetent, or Trump is so clean they couldn't find a single thing to get 12 grand jurors to indict when there is no defense, no opposition, and it's all done in secret. And, the media and the Democrats have already gone on record many times that Mueller is a stellar prosecutor who has impeccable credentials.

So, let the dice fly.

The Rubicon has been crossed.

[DRSB]

So he is going on vacation. And not to his in-laws in Slovenia but to the golf club in NJ, for the 1000th time.