Picaro
Picaro's JournalTrump has delivered big time for Putin
Trump has done everything that Putin has wanted. He has tacitly approved of the annexation of Crimea and doesn't seem all that opposed to Russian intervention in Ukraine. He has, even when prompted, been unwilling to criticize Putin in any way. In fact, he has repeatedly defended Putin.
He has sown division within the NATO alliance by making a speech that explicitly failed to express the United States reaffirmation of Article V of the NATO alliance.
He and his proxies have also floated the idea of terminating the current Russian sanctions even though Russia has not done anything that would merit the cancellation of those sanctions.
Please don't lose sight of the how Trump and his minions have supported Putin and Russia.
It has been explicit and ongoing.
Could Putin and Trump fall out of love? Please follow the money. That is the only thing Trump cares about.
On this I agree with Trump
This seems to be a continuing and developing phenomenon. I sometimes find myself in agreement with people that are firmly on the right wing.
George Will. Now Trump.
The House AHCA bill is not just mean, but incredibly mean. It is cruel. Most importantly, it is stupid.
The Senate is now writing a Senate bill in secret. The chances are that it will also be mean but incredibly cruel.
When even Trump begins to trash talking the House bill and expresses, however simply, that he hopes the Senate bill will not be so mean in what direction can the Senate turn?
If they make it too nice they know the Freedom Caucus will kill it.
But what if Trump is finally understanding that if any healthcare bill is to survive to make it to his desk that that bill has to have Democratic support? Wouldn't that be amazing?
The simple fact is that if Trump is to deliver on his campaign promise of a repealing the ACA and replacing it with something better he will have to work with Democrats. It won't happen any other way.
That means that whatever the Senate comes up with will have to eliminate many of the key provisions of the draconian House AHCA bill including bringing back preexisting conditions, lifetime insurance maximums, and getting rid of the the ACA Medicaid expansion.
The key question is can Trump let himself be this politically smart? Is he beginning to realize that the Republican party is essentially a dry hole?
We will see. I personally believe Trump is one of the dumbest people that has ever occupied elective office of any level much less the Presidency.
I still think this will not end well.
Surely the apocalypse is at hand...
First the Cubs win the World Series and now I often find myself in agreement with George Will. Surely this means the coming of the end of days.
Trial balloon
The trial balloon was set aloft by Gingrich yesterday and after taking fire from both sides is fluttering to earth.
Such are the ways of Washington.
Kinda important dontcha think?
This fills in another piece of the picture of the Trump campaign meeting with the Russians about something.
Were they meeting about influencing (or outright hacking our vulnerable electronic voting computers) the then upcoming election? Were they discussing illegal campaign contributions? Were they talking about a quid pro quo on both the Ukraine and the sanctions?
These are just some of the questions.
While this is coming out (finally)...the rumors are swirling that Trump is considering firing Mueller (would that finally rise to obstruction of justice enough to satisfy Turley, Dershowitz, and other legal TV pundits?).
Another Saturday Night massacre (that most likely won't happen on Saturday).
Marx famously said that history repeats...first as tragedy...then as farce (a rough paraphrase at best). We saw the tragedy in 1973 in which we had real larger-than-life villains and heroes. Now the farce.
An evil idiot clown President with a strangely orange face and a bouffant hairdo, an elfin gibbering and capering attorney general already so obviously corrupt that he has had to remove himself from the drama (or did he really?), and a small deputy who has a reputation for probity and honor who has already failed the first large test.
We, the citizens (the ones paying attention), are now on the edge of our seats. We don't know how this cliff hanger is going to come out.
The sense that I'm again watching moments of pivotal history is like a smothering, heavy cloud that is with me even when I sleep.
This madness will not go on forever, but it will seem to. What we don't know is whether anything will remain of our system of government when it does end.
In North Korea territory now. Full CODE RED.
There is a common theme in all dictatorships (and most monarchies) regardless of ideology--incessant praise and adulation of the dictator. Sometimes this praise is demanded under threat of punishment. Many times it is volunteered.
In current times we see it in North Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Russia.
For the first time in my life we've now seen it in the United States.
When a sitting President has what is advertised as a Cabinet meeting where each Cabinet level offiicial is called on and encouraged to sing the beaming strongman's praises we have entered into a new, previously unknown territory.
The first sign that this was coming was a very strange press release from Trump's press secretary Hope Hicks that talked about his "magnetic" personality and how he "exudes positive energy".' This sounded more like a press release from Kim Jong-il's press secretary than one from anyone born in this country.
Now the right wing is floating the idea of Trump firing Robert Mueller. Trump is moving to cement his power.
We are staring into the abyss. If he does make his move we will tumble into it.
We need the Republicans to decide. Are they patriots? Or will they help Trump finish off what little remains of our Republic?
How quickly history pivots and answers the question of whether it could happen here.
I disagree
I do not believe that Trump will be impeached. I'm certain of that.
Impeachment is a political not a criminal process. Even if it is proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that Trump is guilty of it all including collusion and even treason his party will not impeach him. And they have the votes.
The Republicans will not allow articles of impeachment to come to the House floor.
I'm not even certain at this point if impeachment is it in our best interest… I'm certainly not convinced it is in the interest of the country.
There is no mechanism that is defined by the Constitution that allows for a wholesale replacement of an entire government. And that is what we need. If Trump goes then we get Pence. If Pence goes then we get Ryan. If Ryan goes I think it goes to Orrin Hatch.
How does that benefit anyone? Until we get to the 2018 elections there is no hope on the horizon. I'm not even sure if there is any hope in 2018.
I just saw some interviews on a Dallas television station. The Democrats interviewed,of course, think that this is utterly damning. The Trump voter that was interviewed saw nothing at all. He thinks his guy is doing great.
And that in a nutshell sums it all up.
Until there is a national consensus and it is bipartisan I don't think anything is going to happen.
As amazing as that seems.
Clarke is, along with being one of the vilest human beings
Is also a registered Democrat.
I think we should mount a campaign to have him expelled from the party.
Make normalization and rationalization an Olympic event
If normalization and rationalization were made Olympic events this guy could compete and win the gold medal.
He is a clear example of how Trump did not go out and find the best people to put in the senior cabinet positions. He's a non-entity. A nothing. I'm sure he gets little respect from the thousands of people that work for him that are professionals.
We are watching our experiment in democracy come to an embarrassing end. All democracies ultimately commit suicide. What I was not expecting was our end to be quite so soon and so utterly Kafkaesque.
Either he is being blackmailed or delivering on a quid pro quo deal
It seems blatantly obvious that Trump is either being blackmailed or is delivering the goods after Putin helped put him in office.
I have observed him throughout the entire campaign and now throughout his entire presidency and he has never once said anything even vaguely negative about Russia or Putin. He has pretty much trashed everybody else at one point or another.
Just think about Putin's priorities…
Making NATO an uneasy alliance would be number one if he is planning on a territory grab. There are plenty of indications that he is planning on doing exactly that.
He is looming over Ukraine. And there is a increasing evidence that he has designs on some of the other territories that abut Russia such as Latvia and Lithuania.
Putin also desperately needs us to drop the sanctions. The sanctions are impeding a lot of really lucrative oil and gas deals. Our secretary of state probably stands to profit if the Russian sanctions are lifted.
This is truly sickening. I never thought that I would see an American president so beholden to a foreign power. But I can't ignore the evidence that my eyes are seeing.
I'm very surprised that no one in the media has pointed out how Trump's NATO speech helps advance Putin's ambitions. I was very unsurprised to see this trial balloon go aloft the day after such a strange and discordant speech.
Remember the kompromat that the Russians supposedly possess.
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Name: Ernie FergusonGender: Do not display
Hometown: Plano, TX
Home country: USA
Current location: Plano, TX
Member since: Thu Apr 30, 2009, 11:22 AM
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