Donald John Trump: 2016 President-Elect

[Ceindreadh]

A quote from that CNN report

Trump loyalists -- both high profile surrogates like Giuliani and campaign staffers --who have supported his campaign from the early days are expressing frustration that they are being shut out, complaining that they haven't been given assurances about administration jobs.

 

Heh, they are only now realising that Trump doesn't know the meaning of the word 'loyalty'.  He will screw over anybody and everybody to get his own way.  Hah!

[MulletorHater]

1 hour ago, stormy said:

Thank you all of you people that think the flaccid prick is going to bring back your jobs,  build a Mexican financed wall, wipe-out ISIS with a snap of his tiny fingers, drain the swamp, take back your county, etc, etc, etc.

This is what Stephanie Miller was discussing with Lisa Bloom on her show this morning.  According to The Guardian, The National Park Service has filed a massive omnibus blocking permit on behalf of the trump presidential inauguration committee, to block the Women's March on Washington to be held on January 21, 2017, the day after the inauguration.

It will prevent access to the National Mall, Washington Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial.  136,000 people responded to Facebook that they planned on attending and an additional 226,000 people responded that they're interested in attending.

So for all you fuck-ups, are you scared now?  Your most basic rights as a cititzen of the United States are being stripped away one by one.

And hell, he hasn't even appointed a supreme court justice yet so don't think the Supreme Court's going to be on the side of the little guy.

This absolutely makes my blood boil!  So, it has already begun, and along those lines, check out this little tidbit from The New York Times:  Energy Dept. Purge by Orange Hitler Team

This is chilling.  All patriots and freedom-lovers should be alarmed by this latest outrage by Drumpf's transition team:

Quote

President-elect Trump’s transition team has circulated an unusual 74-point questionnaire that requests the names of all employees and contractors who have attended domestic or international climate change policy conferences, as well as emails associated with the conferences.

I vaguely recall that we've been here before when President GW Bush was in office.  You all may recall former Justice Dept. lawyer, Monica (No)Goodling, who's tenure ended in controversy due to her hiring practices.  Her shtick worked like this:  As White House liaison for the Justice Dept., Ms. Goodling was responsible for hiring lawyers for both political and non-political positions.  Bitch would run the applicants at interviews through the same batch of questions.  She asked about their political philosophies, why they wanted to serve her president, and what other public servants they admired besides Bush.  Based on her notes from the interviews, she would give an assessment on how the applicants fared on threshold political issues. For one applicant, she noted, "god, guns + gays," indicating she was aptly conservative.  Goodling would even sometimes ask, "Why are you a Republican?"

The problem?  Political appointments only make up a small fraction of Justice Dept. hires.  At that time, the Justice Dept. had 110,000 employees.  Consideration of employees' political views is expressly prohibited under both Civil Service law and the Justice Dept.'s internal policies.  Although she was aware of this, Goodling, full of self-righteous fervor persisted.

For example, Goodling reportedly slowed the hiring of a prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's Office in D.C. because he was a "liberal Democrat."  After Jeffrey Taylor complained to Goodling's supervisors, he was allowed to hire the candidate anyway.  Not content to stop there, Goodling blocked the hiring of a female prosecutor in Washington because she believed the person was involved in a lesbian relationship with her supervisor based on unfounded rumors.  Unfortunately, the rumors were persistent and cost the prosecutor the job.  These are just a few examples of her outrageous conduct.

This, folks, is the foolery we have to look forward to at the Dept. of Energy and other departments.  Welcome to the Terror Dome!

[Ocean Chick]

Donnie and the deplorables don't worry about destroying the planet, as they probably think they'll have enough money to build their own biodomes to protect them.  That, or they think it won't happen in their lifetime (and most of them are pretty old) and don't care what happens to their kids and grandkids enough to stop the money grab.  Maybe they plan to take the first rocket to Mars and colonize it? 

[sistermagpie]

26 minutes ago, MulletorHater said:

This absolutely makes my blood boil!  So, it has already begun, and along those lines, check out this little tidbit from The New York Times:  Energy Dept. Purge by Orange Hitler Team

This is chilling.  All patriots and freedom-lovers should be alarmed by this latest outrage by Drumpf's transition team:

That isn't actually down to the Trump team. The Inaugural committee isn't made up of Trump people. The NPS always makes that request for the time around the inauguration. Plus a lot of groups put in for permits. 

Here's an article about what went down here:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2016/12/09/no_trump_s_inauguration_isn_t_banning_the_women_s_march_from_the_lincoln.html

[Lunata]

Donald Trump will continue to be Executive Producer for the ABC show, The Apprentice.

(sure, why not)

[Toomuchsoap]

1 hour ago, Lunata said:

Here's the BEST news I've heard since November 8th. Rudy Giuliani is removing his name from consideration for a cabinet post. PHEW!! I have been afraid of a Rudy Giuliani Secretary of State since before the election. Now I don't care who it is, as long as it's a sure thing it's not him.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/09/politics/rudy-giuliani-removes-himself-from-consideration-for-trump-cabinet-post/

I wonder what he's about to be indicted for?

[slf]

2 hours ago, Lunata said:

Did Hillary Clinton's campaigning bring her to Michigan or Wisconsin? She campaigned hard in Philadelphia which is historically Democrat but what about the other 66 counties in Pennsylvania? Those are the people that needed to see her and hear her. She absolutely should have focused more on Wisconsin because it was that State that gave their 8 electoral votes to a Republican for the first time since 1984. Both candidates spent most of their television advertising time attacking the other person’s character. In fact, Hillary Clinton's ads did little else. More than three-quarters of the appeals in Hillary Clinton’s advertisements (and nearly half of Mr. Trump’s) were about traits, characteristics or dispositions. Only 9 percent of Mrs. Clinton’s appeals in her ads were about jobs or the economy. By contrast, 34 percent of Mr. Trump’s appeals focused on the economy, jobs, taxes and trade. If you take all of this into consideration, her campaign was grossly mismanaged. But even more pertinent is the fact that the Democrats failed miserably because they totally and completely misread the mood of the nation. They thought that people were happy with how things were going and they were astoundingly wrong.

Donald Trump took advantage of just about everything he could. Race, religion, abortion, terrorism, same sex marriage, everything. Not only he opposed these things but apparently so did most of the people that voted for him. People that voted for Hillary in opposition to what was even worse, Donald Trump, did so not only out of fear but out of knowledge, understanding and liberal views on race, religion and just about everything. We were millions of people that were polar opposites and that in return served to polarize an entire nation.

The fact is, whites overwhelmingly voted for Trump. POC did not. POC are disproportionately affected by poverty and unemployment. So what about Trump appealed to 'working-class' whites that didn't appeal to working-class poc? Analysis of their respective voters found that the majority of people for whom the economy was the deciding factor voted for HRC not for Trump. People most likely to vote for Trump voted for him due to immigration and terrorism. And that's why, among other reasons, you get such a sharp race divide. The things 'working-class' whites needed to hear to vote for HRC are things she wasn't going to say and had she said them? She still would've lost, she just would've lost the popular vote as well.

I mean, what is this fixation on 'working-class' whites? Why not the working-class poc who didn't vote? Where's the concern for natives having their votes suppressed? It's not pragmatism, god knows, whites are a shrinking population that will become less and less politically relevant over the next four decades. It's not the 'working-class' whites who're being abandoned by liberals. This year, as with every other year, every single analysis is all about them.

[Lunata]

29 minutes ago, Toomuchsoap said:

I wonder what he's about to be indicted for?

The thing is, certain members of the transition team, Kellyanne, Corey Lewandowski, Steve Bannon and others have been in-fighting over who will have this Secretary of State job. That's why it has taken this long to nominate the person for the most important appointment of all of them. The Secretary of State position is unlike others because it must be vetted and approved by the Senate. Some in the Trump transition team oppose Mitt Romney vehemently and others think he'll balance off Trump and temper his impetuousness. Rudy Giuliani had made it very clear that he wanted this position and wouldn't accept anything else. But, Rudy Giuliani has numerous connections to foreign interests, he has businesses all over the world and these might not pass scrutiny and his appointment might not be approved by the Senate. 

I saw a clip of Trump at his 'thank you tour' in Iowa yesterday. Gone were the chants of "lock her up!" and "CNN sucks!". He's using his 'thank you tour' to defend the picks he's already made which includes mostly business titans with little or no government experience. He said this at the rally; "And one newspaper criticized me;  "why can't they have people of modest means?" to which he said "Because I want people that made a fortune, because now they're negotiating with you!".

Can anyone explain that to me? I couldn't find the logic in that.

[KerleyQ]

1 hour ago, Padma said:

There's some face-saving for him.  I'm guessing the EXTENSIVE tax returns that Trump requires to vet people (plus intrusive questions into affairs etc. --oh, yes, irony alert!) found something that will make it impossible for Rudy to be confirmed. 

Yay!  (But don't forget that the two Exxon-Mobile CEOS are, in the big picture, even more dangerous).

I saw a rumor that Rand Paul had managed to rally a big enough group of his fellow Senators to block the nomination, Trump's team got wind of it, and Trump doesn't want to take the loss on that one, so he allowed Rudy to "remove himself from contention."  If it's true, then, when combined with the news today that Lindsey Graham has teamed up with Dick Durbin to co-sponsor a bill to protect the Dreamers from being deported under Trump's immigration policies, it's possible that our speculation here a week or so ago that we may be able to rely on Rand and Lindsey to go with their conscience may have been spot on.  I don't think they'll fight him on everything, but I think we can maybe hold onto hope that they'll choose some battles to push back on when Trump gets out of hand.  

[AntiBeeSpray]

Russia tried to hack and give the election to Drumpf. Thank you Rachel Maddow for mentioning about it. I heard about it earlier today as well, after reading a NYT article about President Obama wanting to review the results.

Here are some of the articles about it.

One

Source: cnn.com

Two

Source: nytimes.com

Three

Source: washingtonpost.com

Some quotes:

From the Post

Quote

Intelligence agencies have identified individuals with connections to the Russian government who provided WikiLeaks with thousands of hacked emailsfrom the Democratic National Committee and others, including Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, according to U.S. officials. Those officials described the individuals as actors known to the intelligence community and part of a wider Russian operation to boost Drumpf and hurt Clinton’s chances.

“It is the assessment of the intelligence community that Russia’s goal here was to favor one candidate over the other, to help Drumpf get elected,” said a senior U.S. official briefed on an intelligence presentation made to U.S. senators. “That’s the consensus view.”

From the NY Times

Quote

“We may have crossed into a new threshold here,” Ms. Monaco said. “It is incumbent upon us to take stock of that, to review, to conduct some after-action, to understand what has happened and to impart some lessons learned.”

She added that Mr. Obama “expects to receive this report before he leaves office.”

From CNN

Quote

Members of his own party have strongly pointed the finger at Russia, and Republican Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham are reportedly leading the charge among Republicans to investigate the hacking, according to The Washington Post, and Graham has told CNN he intends to be unrelenting.

"I'm going after Russia in every way you can go after Russia," Graham told CNN. "I think they're one of the most destabilizing influences on the world stage, I think they did interfere with our elections, and I want Putin personally to pay a price."

This is very, very concerning that Russia was allowed to get away with it. Mcconnell himself along with other Republicans were against having this come out. So there's definitely something going on.

The Russians remind me of Boris and Natasha now, "We must get Moose and Squirrel..."

[Lunata]

17 minutes ago, AntiBeeSpray said:

Russia tried to hack and give the election to Drumpf. Thank you Rachel Maddow for mentioning about it. I heard about it earlier today as well, after reading a NYT article about President Obama wanting to review the results.

Here are some of the articles about it.

One

Source: cnn.com

Two

Source: nytimes.com

Three

Source: washingtonpost.com

Some quotes:

From the Post

From the NY Times

From CNN

This is very, very concerning that Russia was allowed to get away with it. Mcconnell himself along with other Republicans were against having this come out. So there's definitely something going on.

The Russians remind me of Boris and Natasha now, "We must get Moose and Squirrel..."

Thank you for the link sources. It's funny that we feel the need to back up stories with facts and verification from 3 different legitimate sources, but that's what you did, so nobody can say it's a 'hoax' article and conspiracy theory from a fake website. Good work @ANTBEESPRAY.

I heard this earlier this afternoon and it only came across the screen in a banner running across the bottom. When I saw it, I had to back up to read it all. The most interesting thing I took from the articles. President Obama wants to get all of this material before the Jan. 20th inauguration because he won't be able to after that time since Trump will be in power. But, the conclusion has definitely been made that the Russian's interfere not only in this past election but also in the 2008 election. The cyber attacks are nothing new to the White House but this is different because they were intended to hurt the Democratic party and Hillary Clinton. I think that President Obama is sitting on a bombshell and I think we're going to see what it is very soon.

This is the letter sent to President Obama from the National Security Ranking Members.

http://democrats.oversight.house.gov/news/press-releases/hoyer-national-security-ranking-members-send-letter-to-president-obama-urging

[AntiBeeSpray]

1 minute ago, Lunata said:

Thank you for the link sources. It's funny that we feel the need to back up stories with facts and verification from 3 different legitimate sources, but that's what you did, so nobody can say it's a 'hoax' article and conspiracy theory from a fake website. Good work @ANTBEESPRAY.

I heard this earlier this afternoon and it only came across the screen in a banner running across the bottom. When I saw it, I had to back up to read it all. The most interesting thing I took from the articles. President Obama wants to get all of this material before the Jan. 20th inauguration because he won't be able to after that time since Drumpf will be in power. But, the conclusion has definitely been made that the Russian's interfere not only in this past election but also in the 2008 election. The cyber attacks are nothing new to the White House but this is different because they were intended to hurt the Democratic party and Hillary Clinton. I think that President Obama is sitting on a bombshell and I think we're going to see what it is very soon.

This is the letter sent to President Obama from the National Security Ranking Members.

http://democrats.oversight.house.gov/news/press-releases/hoyer-national-security-ranking-members-send-letter-to-president-obama-urging

You're welcome. Yep. It's something that the Republicons want to hide. Big time. 

Yep and I hope he's able to have it done by then. Here's to hoping.

I remember hearing about that earlier this month. Glad that he's doing something about it.

[ruby24]

How can this man be sworn in?

He is openly trashing the CIA in an attempt to defend Russia in that statement he just put out.

How can we let this happen? Let a foreign government install their stooge in the White House? Against the will of the voters???

[AntiBeeSpray]

3 minutes ago, ruby24 said:

How can this man be sworn in?

He is openly trashing the CIA in an attempt to defend Russia in that statement he just put out.

How can we let this happen? Let a foreign government install their stooge in the White House? Against the will of the voters???

Exactly on all counts. This is so f'd up.

[Bossa Nova]

Quote

So there's definitely something going on.

Quote

 I think that President Obama is sitting on a bombshell and I think we're going to see what it is very soon.

I have nothing to add. Just hoping.

[Lunata]

11 minutes ago, AntiBeeSpray said:

Exactly on all counts. This is so f'd up.

This is big, I mean really big. And I can imagine that Trump's transition team is in a panic right now planning how they're going to defend Trump in this. Donald Trump himself asked Russia to release ALL 3,000 of Hillary's email. That would mean that he was part of this. There is also some suggestion that Putin and Russia has been 'grooming' Donald Trump for this for at least five years.

I don't know what's going to happen, it may only be additional sanctions on Russia, but regarding Donald Trump.....no idea what's going to happen. On Donald's victory tour tonight, he actually told them that "and hey, I don't need your vote anymore".  On CNBC, one of the commentators said that there's even evidence that Putin may have been 'grooming' Donald Trump for this for at least five years.

Edited December 10, 2016 by Lunata

[AntiBeeSpray]

Just now, Lunata said:

This is big, I mean really big. And I can imagine that Drumpf's transition team is in a panic right now planning how they're going to defend Drumpf in this. Donald Drumpf himself asked Russia to release ALL 3,000 of Hillary's email. That would mean that he was part of this. There is also some suggestion that Putin and Russia has been 'grooming' Donald Drumpf for this for at least five years.

I don't know what's going to happen, it may only be additional sanctions on Russia, but regarding Donald Drumpf.....no idea what's going to happen.

Yep. As bad as Watergate was back in the day, this is looking to be far worse in some ways.

[callmebetty]

10 minutes ago, Lunata said:

This is big, I mean really big. And I can imagine that Trump's transition team is in a panic right now planning how they're going to defend Trump in this. Donald Trump himself asked Russia to release ALL 3,000 of Hillary's email. That would mean that he was part of this. There is also some suggestion that Putin and Russia has been 'grooming' Donald Trump for this for at least five years.

I don't know what's going to happen, it may only be additional sanctions on Russia, but regarding Donald Trump.....no idea what's going to happen. On Donald's victory tour tonight, he actually told them that "and hey, I don't need your vote anymore".  On CNBC, one of the commentators said that there's even evidence that Putin may have been 'grooming' Donald Trump for this for at least five years.

I'm not going to get my hopes up. I was so confident on a Hillary win and I can't handle that kind of disappointment again. I'm thinking nothing is going to come from any of this.  Cause the world doesn't work the way it use to, it's fucking bizarro ,  upside down world.

[ruby24]

Popular vote loss of this size combined with foreign intervention= lack of legitimacy in my view.

This is a constitutional crisis.

[hoosier80]

https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-12-09/obama-orders-investigation-into-election-related-hacking-attacks-iwhy9nww

Oh please, please be enough to prevent Tubby from ever being near the White House, well the presidency.  He doesn't even want to live in the White House.

As I read somewhere, if Tubby did aid or know about the Russians hacking to change election results, it's treason.  

I bet he owes Russian banks big time, and this was to forget about his debt - running for President, "winning" and then enacting things to benefit Vlad & Co.  Does Rudy know something, so that's why he's backing away now?  Is he the first rat leaving a sinking rotten orange ship?

And when is that IRS audit coming out?  One of the other, something has stop Tubby.

[Padma]

I think Obama's sitting on a bombshell and he'll keep sitting on it. He's having them investigate "all" cyber hacking of elections back to 2008 (that would be China).  I believe Tubby's campaign was working with Russia to turn voters against Hillary.

I also believe that Obama would never, ever release anything like that that would be so inflammatory--and cast doubt on our election. This is the man, after all, who told Hillary to concede on election night when all votes weren't even counted yet.  He didn't respond to the Dems on the Intelligence Committee requesting he declassify the Russian hacking info.  And he reportedly didn't release details of it earlier to as not to "interfere" with the outcome of the election for Hillary. (But it was okay for Russia, Assange and Comey to do it for Trump).

Obama is so tied up in the system. No way would he do or say anything to undermine the legitimacy of this election. He seems to take charges of "fraud" very personally and doesn't even want votes recounted.

As for Tubby requesting Russia hack her emails....He did it, on camera--to the television--for all of us to see.  He said he was just joking though.  (Whatever really happened we'll never know the details of).

[Toomuchsoap]

34 minutes ago, Lunata said:

This is big, I mean really big. And I can imagine that Trump's transition team is in a panic right now planning how they're going to defend Trump in this. Donald Trump himself asked Russia to release ALL 3,000 of Hillary's email. That would mean that he was part of this. There is also some suggestion that Putin and Russia has been 'grooming' Donald Trump for this for at least five years.

I don't know what's going to happen, it may only be additional sanctions on Russia, but regarding Donald Trump.....no idea what's going to happen. On Donald's victory tour tonight, he actually told them that "and hey, I don't need your vote anymore".  On CNBC, one of the commentators said that there's even evidence that Putin may have been 'grooming' Donald Trump for this for at least five years.

Effectively, it means he a Russian asset. Or, at minimum, a willing asset. Josh Marshall at TPM, and his contemplatation of tRump's continued business as usual approach to his corporate day-to-day, led him to conclude that tRump can't easily - or ever - divest himself from his corporate investments because he's over-leveraged to the extent he isn't able to (financially without opening his robe).

He's - apparently - bankrupt. A man who is so devoid of core principles and so shaky financially and such a pathological narcissist, is fundamentally exploitable such to become a "foreign asset" of the United States's most serious and long- standing enemy.  The Cheeto shitgibbon is nothing more than Putin's made man. And so is no-neck McConnell- he of the wife, Elaine Chao, who is now  a cabinet nominee.

Edited December 10, 2016 by Toomuchsoap

[Lunata]

"This is what happens when Donald Trump attacks a private citizen on Twitter"

About a year ago, 18-year-old college student Lauren Batchelder stood up at a political forum in New Hampshire and told Donald Trump that she didn’t think he was “a friend to women.”

The next morning, Trump fired back on Twitter — calling Batchelder an “arrogant young woman” and accusing her of being a “plant” from a rival campaign. Her phone began ringing with callers leaving threatening messages that were often sexual in nature. Her Facebook and email inboxes filled with similar messages. As her addresses circulated on social media and her photo flashed on the news, she fled home to hide.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/this-is-what-happens-when-donald-trump-attacks-a-private-citizen-on-twitter/2016/12/08/a1380ece-bd62-11e6-91ee-1adddfe36cbe_story.html

[AntiBeeSpray]

5 minutes ago, Padma said:

I think Obama's sitting on a bombshell and he'll keep sitting on it. He's having them investigate "all" cyber hacking of elections back to 2008 (that would be China).  I believe Tubby's campaign was working with Russia to turn voters against Hillary.

I also believe that Obama would never, ever release anything like that that would be so inflammatory--and cast doubt on our election. This is the man, after all, who told Hillary to concede on election night when all votes weren't even counted yet.  He didn't respond to the Dems on the Intelligence Committee requesting he declassify the Russian hacking info.  And he reportedly didn't release details of it earlier to as not to "interfere" with the outcome of the election for Hillary. (But it was okay for Russia, Assange and Comey to do it for Trump).

Obama is so tied up in the system. No way would he do or say anything to undermine the legitimacy of this election. He seems to take charges of "fraud" very personally and doesn't even want votes recounted.

As for Tubby requesting Russia hack her emails....He did it, on camera--to the television--for all of us to see.  He said he was just joking though.  (Whatever really happened we'll never know the details of).

Here's the thing, there's a LOT that goes on behind the scenes that most likely prevented the President from doing anything sooner. We are not him, so we don't know what he would or wouldn't do.

 

4 minutes ago, Lunata said:

"This is what happens when Donald Trump attacks a private citizen on Twitter"

About a year ago, 18-year-old college student Lauren Batchelder stood up at a political forum in New Hampshire and told Donald Trump that she didn’t think he was “a friend to women.”

The next morning, Trump fired back on Twitter — calling Batchelder an “arrogant young woman” and accusing her of being a “plant” from a rival campaign. Her phone began ringing with callers leaving threatening messages that were often sexual in nature. Her Facebook and email inboxes filled with similar messages. As her addresses circulated on social media and her photo flashed on the news, she fled home to hide.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/this-is-what-happens-when-donald-trump-attacks-a-private-citizen-on-twitter/2016/12/08/a1380ece-bd62-11e6-91ee-1adddfe36cbe_story.html

That is beyond sick what he did and what others did to harass and demean her.

[Padma]

Well, we know what he -has- done (not much) and we know what he -has- said ("cooperate with Trump; he won and the election was fair".)  Maybe he'll surprise me, but I'm not counting on it. He's not a guy who rocks the boat much, and this would be a lot bigger than that.

[Jediknight]

Just now, AntiBeeSpray said:

Here's the thing, there's a LOT that goes on behind the scenes that most likely prevented the President from doing anything sooner. We are not him, so we don't know what he would or wouldn't do.

And as President of the United States he knows that he can't come out and say something like that without being 1000% positive.  Obama's not a guy to throw out accusations without making sure they're correct, because of the panic and upheaval that can come with it.

[AntiBeeSpray]

6 minutes ago, Jediknight said:

And as President of the United States he knows that he can't come out and say something like that without being 1000% positive.  Obama's not a guy to throw out accusations without making sure they're correct, because of the panic and upheaval that can come with it.

Exactly. He has to make sure that all the i's are dotted and the t's are crossed before doing so.

6 minutes ago, Padma said:

Well, we know what he -has- done (not much) and we know what he -has- said ("cooperate with Drumpf; he won and the election was fair".)  Maybe he'll surprise me, but I'm not counting on it. He's not a guy who rocks the boat much, and this would be a lot bigger than that.

Yea, but we're not flies on the wall there. So we're in the dark until it hits the light otherwise. In the White House, sure. He can't afford to do so there. Outside, I'd say otherwise. He seems to be a far more outspoken person outside of the office.

[Lunata]

7 minutes ago, AntiBeeSpray said:

Here's the thing, there's a LOT that goes on behind the scenes that most likely prevented the President from doing anything sooner. We are not him, so we don't know what he would or wouldn't do.

The only thing that most of us have felt is that the Democrats sort of just went underground, totally silent, and we had lost our voices in Washington. We felt abandoned. In the back of mind I was hoping for something that would come out, something they were keeping under wraps. Maybe they were, and maybe this is it.

[AntiBeeSpray]

2 minutes ago, Lunata said:

The only thing that most of us have felt is that the Democrats sort of just went underground, totally silent, and we had lost our voices in Washington. We felt abandoned. In the back of mind I was hoping for something that would come out, something they were keeping under wraps. Maybe they were, and maybe this is it.

I've felt similarly about it too. But here's to hoping this works out.

[Toomuchsoap]

Perhaps, President Obama's taken a measured response to what he's seeing unfold and seeing the rethugs' zealousness to undo - unmoor - the very basic safety net that stands as the last bulwark of salvation for so many US citizens, many of them the elderly and duped, stupid and dependent on federal "welfare" or those that are about to lose healthcare because SURPRISE! the rethugs NEVER plan to "replace" Obamacare that ensures their preexisting conditions don't get them cancelled from their healthcare policies, or the Medicare vouchers on the way or the announced fundamental gutting of Social Security that was outlined just yesterday by the Texas throwback.

Edited December 10, 2016 by Toomuchsoap

[Menrva]

But even supposing tampering from Russia is proven, can they really throw out the results of the election? And let's face it, the electoral college are not going to suddenly change their votes from Prince TinyHands Thimbledick to someone else. They're just not. We're stuck with this gilded turdblossom and we have to watch our country go down in flames. Possibly quite literally.

I'm just feeling so helpless tonight. I just can't stop hating him.

[Lunata]

11 minutes ago, Menrva said:

But even supposing tampering from Russia is proven, can they really throw out the results of the election? And let's face it, the electoral college are not going to suddenly change their votes from Prince TinyHands Thimbledick to someone else. They're just not. We're stuck with this gilded turdblossom and we have to watch our country go down in flames. Possibly quite literally.

I'm just feeling so helpless tonight. I just can't stop hating him.

Like someone up-thread said, if it can be proven that Trump was in collusion with the Russians and that he made a deal with Putin to forgive the debt he owes them in exchange for the Presidency, then that's undoubtedly conspiracy. HANG HIM!

[Toomuchsoap]

Are we? Really? If it's even hinted that RasPutin had his vice-like thumbs on Tiny Hands's tiny balls, to influence this election, given what this kleptocrat has already shown what he's got in store for everyone, how long do you think this will stand? 

He's not the certified, electorally-instated POTUS yet. And this reeks and is so disturbing that many who might have cast a ballot for this disgusting POS Russian asset might want to drop his fat red ass by the side of the road.

[Duke Silver]

The problem is his supporters don't believe MSM or anyone, really, who opposes Trump.

[Toomuchsoap]

8 minutes ago, Duke Silver said:

The problem is his supporters don't believe MSM or anyone, really, who opposes Trump.

Duke, with all due respect, they are not in the majority here. The great majority of voters spurned this belly-crawling thing. Fuck the (probably rigged) rust belt tRump voters that gave him the "win". This man is illegitimate. Probably in every way imaginable. And probably a Russian agent.

Edited December 10, 2016 by Toomuchsoap

[Duke Silver]

1 minute ago, Toomuchsoap said:

Duke, with all due respect, they are not in the majority here.

I'm confused by what you're trying to say here....  I was only responding to your final sentence, wherein you express hope that Trump voters would somehow abandon him.

[Lunata]

okay, I'll just come out and say it even if it makes me seem like a crazy person that should be locked up.

After the election, one of the avid Trump supporters was asked how people would take the news if Hillary Clinton won and Trump was soundly defeated. You can guess what he said. He said 'there will be war, there will be bloodshed".

So, I'm thinking that President Obama and all the Democrats are very aware that this would be a reaction if news was released to the public that Donald Trump was definitely a puppet for Putin and rigged the election. President Obama would have to ensure that the National Guard was on the alert. That police all over the country were given advance warning to be ready. And that every mayor of every big city was notified of a potential dangerous event and to have all resources up to date and ready. I truly think that this could cause such chaos and anger that it would result in a lot of lives lost and set this country back 200 years. I wonder if they gave this so much consideration that they had thought it would be best to leave it alone, bury the intelligence proving Russia was to blame and let Trump go along until he's impeached. But one thing for damned sure, if this doesn't happen prior to that inauguration then it will be pointless to bring it out afterwards.

[slf]

28 minutes ago, Menrva said:

But even supposing tampering from Russia is proven, can they really throw out the results of the election?

Depends on a bunch of factors. The most important being: was Trump colluding with the Russians? Like, did he know they would do those hacks? Worse yet, did he work with them to attempt to control the outcome of the election? If the answer is yes and the effort was substantial that would be treason, is my understanding.

He would have to be tried and if found guilty would not be executed, he would be imprisoned. He could claim he was threatened but I doubt he was, it's far more likely he worked with them willingly. 

As for the election...I don't know. We may not even have protocol for this. If not enough votes were changed to affect the outcome of the election it's possible it would pass to Pence if he was unaware of the plot? I'm not sure. A new election would make the most sense to me; all votes from this election discounted a new one ordered.

[Toomuchsoap]

1 hour ago, Duke Silver said:

I'm confused by what you're trying to say here....  I was only responding to your final sentence, wherein you express hope that Trump voters would somehow abandon him.

Please see my edit to my post. Some tTump voters or lazy hangerson won't. We know that, reliably, there're about 35-37 percent of rethug voters. That number won't ever change unless there's a mass die-off (and many of these folks are aging out of voting). What I was talking about were those voters who may have been swayed last minute to throw in with this douche.

Edited December 10, 2016 by Toomuchsoap

[Padma]

Maybe it would cause tremendous social upheaval and even riots. But you can't have a foreign power installing your president--esp. one who didn't even win the popular vote.  If there was collusion between Trump and Putin, that's treason, it just CAN'T be ignored, whatever the consequences.

And after the inauguration, it wouldn't be pointless either. (Am I naïve to think knowing the facts of a situation is never pointless?)   If the truth is that Tubby really IS Putin's puppet, we'd better know it now. It's not my problem--it's Trump and the Republicans' problem.  How do they address it? How do they make that situation right?

(They won't, of course. But they shouldn't get away with it and have the facts of the matter just swept under the rug because "too late now".)

[Lunata]

9 minutes ago, slf said:

Depends on a bunch of factors. The most important being: was Trump colluding with the Russians? Like, did he know they would do those hacks? Worse yet, did he work with them to attempt to control the outcome of the election? If the answer is yes and the effort was substantial that would be treason, is my understanding.

He would have to be tried and if found guilty would not be executed, he would be imprisoned. He could claim he was threatened but I doubt he was, it's far more likely he worked with them willingly. 

As for the election...I don't know. We may not even have protocol for this. If not enough votes were changed to affect the outcome of the election it's possible it would pass to Pence if he was unaware of the plot? I'm not sure. A new election would make the most sense to me; all votes from this election discounted a new one ordered.

I don't think there would or even could be a 'do-over' election and Mike Pence would become President if Trump was removed.

[Toomuchsoap]

But if tRump were to be exposed as  kompromised, the taint would'nt necessarily slop onto Pence. As loathesome as he is, and as gutting as these rethugs' policies are, Pence won't be able to salvage the wreckage. tRump might have, but old no-neck McConnell?  And Uncle Fester? And does anyone really believe Pence will be able to galvanize the same base that fueled the tRump voters in two or four years? And if it's provable that Russia had Cheeto in his pocket, would any even remotely "responsible" rethug align himself/herself with him? I've got my doubts. What they plan in the next 90 days, will wreck the working and middle class as it is. What they plan longer term will probably spell our collective doom and I suspect there're a lot of folks who are really getting nervous about those launch codes about now.

Edited December 10, 2016 by Toomuchsoap

[sistermagpie]

1 hour ago, Lunata said:

I wonder if they gave this so much consideration that they had thought it would be best to leave it alone, bury the intelligence proving Russia was to blame and let Trump go along until he's impeached. But one thing for damned sure, if this doesn't happen prior to that inauguration then it will be pointless to bring it out afterwards.

Wow, if that were true that would be the ultimately Democrat wimp out of all time. The crazy guys with the muskets are too scary to defend the presidency from a total incompetent!

1 hour ago, slf said:

Depends on a bunch of factors. The most important being: was Trump colluding with the Russians? Like, did he know they would do those hacks? Worse yet, did he work with them to attempt to control the outcome of the election? If the answer is yes and the effort was substantial that would be treason, is my understanding.

I could easily believe that whatever Russia did Trump wasn't in on it--or he was barely in on it. I mean, Putin had every reason to want Trump as president and it's not like he'd need Trump telling him to release the emails in order to do it. And Trump has always instinctively run to whoever was helping him--he'd have good reason to think Putin was in his corner even without actually talking to him about hacking emails. Whatever he knew or didn't know, he might have a lot of deniability. Not that he's even being held to account about it--the guy literally got intel from the CIA that Russia was behind the hacks and he went on TV and rejected it as a lie from Hillary Clinton. It's not like he's ever hidden that personally winning was more important to him than anything to do with national security. And now he's doing it again, accusing the intelligence community of lying about intel like they did about WMD? (And note that suggests that the WMD destruction thing was like a left wing thing? Or something?)

Not that any of that says what actually happened or what should be done about it. The thing is, I imagine that hacking emails and releasing them, while obviously interfering with the election, didn't change the actual votes that were cast. The manipulation, at least wrt the emails, was done before the votes.

Man, and people though the "Patty and Young-Hee" set up on The Americans last season was too convoluted to be a real spy mission that Russia would come up with an execute successfully. Hats off to you, comrades!

[ruby24]

Democrats need to say fuck this and start calling him illegitimate. Like NOW.

Because he is. Huge popular vote loss plus foreign intervention in the election= no legitimacy. Unduly elected.

[Toomuchsoap]

If an individual is financially over- leveraged to a foreign kleptocracy as tRump allegedly is, then it renders that individual vulnerable to compromise and, therefore, to be kompromised. How in fuck can any rational thinking person not factor in tRump's raving extollation of his Russkie bud, Vlad Pooty-Boy and not 'connect the dots'?

Edited December 10, 2016 by Toomuchsoap

[sistermagpie]

2 minutes ago, Toomuchsoap said:

If an individual is financially over- leveraged to a foreign kleptocracy as tRump allegedly is, then it renders that individual vulnerable to compromise and, therefore, to be kompromised. How in fuck can any rational thinking person not factor in tRump's raving extollation of his Russkie bud, Vlad Pooty-Boy and not 'connect the dots'?

Nobody made him release his damn tax returns like every other President for decades. And they're continuing down the same line, seeing no reason to not let him just keep doing whatever he's doing in secret, keep his conflicts of interest, keep other salaries and jobs on the side, use diplomatic meetings as business meetings, bring non-secure people into secure meetings.

He said he could shoot someone in the face and his supporters wouldn't care--it's more like he could literally sign a loan with a Russian bank using the USA as collateral and his supporters wouldn't care, even when they found out he'd somehow named them as co-signers and left them with the bill.

[Jediknight]

26 minutes ago, sistermagpie said:

And now he's doing it again, accusing the intelligence community of lying about intel like they did about WMD? (And note that suggests that the WMD destruction thing was like a left wing thing? Or something?)

What I love about that is that the CIA said it had no evidence that Iraq had WMDs, so they're attributing Bush and Cheney's lie to the CIA.

[Padma]

So happy that Stein hasn't given up in Michigan, despite the Wed. ruling:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/michigan-judges-remove-themselves-from-recount-case_us_584b0145e4b0e05aded3d55c?

[backformore]

12 hours ago, slf said:

As for the election...I don't know. We may not even have protocol for this. If not enough votes were changed to affect the outcome of the election it's possible it would pass to Pence if he was unaware of the plot? I'm not sure. A new election would make the most sense to me; all votes from this election discounted a new one ordered.

BUT -  as I understand it, Russia didn't hack the votes.  What they did was hack emails and release information unfavorable to Hillary so that voters would be less likely to vote for her.  If they had actually hacked VOTES,  a new election would be in order.   So far, it seems like what they did was influence votes. 

(and, sadly, too many Americans are stupid enough to be led to making crappy decisions)

 

Trump Could End Up In Prison As He Continues To Solicit Illegal Foreign Donations

Quote

The soliciting of donations from foreign nationals is illegal. If the Trump campaign accepted and kept any money from foreign nationals, it would be grounds for a criminal probe that could land Trump and/or members of his campaign in prison.

Rachel Maddow tonight did another story - clips of Trump at all his various rallies and "thank you"  rallies, saying that the simple answer to economic problems is "Buy American, Hire American"   And that that his hotel, Mar-a-Lago continues to hire ONLY foreign workers through a VISA program.  In Florida, where unemployment is a problem, Trump's business is importing workers rather than "Hire American".

Remember early in the campaign, when Ivanka Trump was vacationing with her best friend - the one who happens to be Putin's girlfriend? 

It seemed suspect at the time, but NOW?  Yeah, the Trumps have been WAY too cozy with Russia!  

[stormy]

If brainiac discounts CIA intell and brushes it off as, I know more than they do, we are in bigly trouble. 

What will he believe when it comes to our security?  Who will he believe?  He hasn't even taken the intelligent briefings offered to him daily.

 W was reading storybooks to kindergartners on 9/11, he discounted the reports that Ben Ladin was determined to attack the US, Cheney cherry picked the CIA intell and twisted it to get the Senate to believe Sadam had weapons of mass destruction and go to war.

On top of his looking to dismantle everything from the EPA, to HHS and making barrels of money off us while he continues to be an executive producer of a reality TV show, things get scarier than hell everyday.  And, he thinks he won by an historical electoral landslide.

Edited December 10, 2016 by stormy