President Donald Trump's Final Days...

[Rogerbh]

So one of the two very bad candidates became president. I believe anyone with half a brain knew this particular one was an egotistical lying bull shitter. I am kinda surprised that he trying to do what he promised during the campaign. I doubt he will succeed. He doesn't bring people together.

As to his failed businesses, I thought his main business line was Hotels and possibly gold courses. I don't hear bad things about them. His attempts to maximize the profit on his name has resulted in some failures, not unexpected.

I have heard third hand that he cheats like crazy at golf.

No surprise.

Speaking as one who voted against Hillary Clinton and wanted a conservative Supreme Court, I can live with this guy - mainly by ignoring his tweets and other daily idiotic behaviors. In my mind he is not making the office of the president a bad thing, he is just making his presidency a bad thing. We will appreciate the next president more.

[Devius]

Ivanka Trump is officially joining her father's administration as an unpaid employee with the title Assistant to the President, the White House says.

Details:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-39438769

The House Freedom Caucus, the collection of libertarian-leaning conservatives who helped sink the Trump-backed American Health Care Act last week, appears to be as much of a political enemy for the president as the Democratic Party.

"The Freedom Caucus will hurt the entire Republican agenda if they don't get on the team, & fast," Mr Trump tweeted on Thursday morning. "We must fight them, & Dems, in 2018!"

Details:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-39384739

Russia mounted a campaign of "propaganda on steroids" seeking to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election, the top Democrat on the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee said on Thursday, listing several areas of concern about possible links to Republican Donald Trump's campaign.

U.S. intelligence agencies say Russia hacked emails of senior Democrats and orchestrated the release of embarrassing information to hurt Clinton's campaign.

The lawmakers also warned of the potential for Russian influence on upcoming elections in France and Germany, such as stories being spread to discredit German Chancellor Angela Merkel. And they said Britain's "Brexit" vote last year on leaving the European Union should be examined.

Full details:
http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-usa...-idUKKBN17127X

Whatever Russia may have done (or not), as Rogerbh stated in the last post, the American populace had to choose between two poor candidates. I'm betting had HRC won, right now we would be assailed by Committee hearings about her emails...

[scoundrel]

Hillary Clinton would have been a dreadful president, and would have had much less comedy value than Mr Trump.

Unless the Republicans can produce a viable alternative healthcare reform which will get the votes in Congress, it is not going to be very convincing if they run on the Obamacare Repeal platform in 2018. It would make more sense to discuss amendments to improve the existing law by addressing known defects in the system. I think the basic premise of cooperating with private insurance corporations is mistaken; there is room in healthcare for private service providers but not for private companies to allocate resources and choose who lives and who dies.

[vinceprince]

I wonder if Putin sees the irony of his recent denial of Russian involvement.

'Read my lips. No!'

He said he was quoting Reagan when in fact he was lying and it was Bush senior.

He was actually quoting a very famous lie by Bush stating he would not increase taxes which was then used against him by the press and Democrats and was a major factor in his loss of power.

Nearly as funny as Michael Flynn in 2016: 'When you're given immunity, you've probably committed a crime'

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/video/2017/mar/31/michael-flynn-immunity-committed-crime-video

And now his asking for immunity in exchange for his testimony? Duh?

Looking forward to the White House trying to explain this one.

[tsunamiSD]

Trump the Destroyer

(subtitled "Trump has stuffed his Cabinet with tyrants, zealots and imbeciles – all bent on demolishing our government from within)

Toward the end of his CPAC speech, following a fusillade of anti-media tirades that will dominate the headlines for days, Trump, in an offhand voice, casually mentions what a chore the presidency can be.
"I still don't have my Cabinet approved," he sighs.
In truth, Trump does have much of his team approved. In the early days of his administration, while his Democratic opposition was still reeling from November's defeat, Trump managed to stuff the top of his Cabinet with a jaw-dropping collection of perverts, tyrants and imbeciles, the likes of which Washington has never seen.
En route to taking this crucial first beachhead in his invasion of the capital, Trump did what he always does: stoked chaos, created hurricanes of misdirection, ignored rules and dared the system of checks and balances to stop him.
By conventional standards, the system held up fairly well. But this is not a conventional president. He was a new kind of candidate and now is a new kind of leader: one who stumbles like a drunk up Capitol Hill, but manages even in defeat to continually pull the country in his direction, transforming not our laws but our consciousness, one shriveling brain cell at a time.

[diamelsx]

Comparing 45 to Norma Desmond was a nice touch.

[Mal Hombre]

I had thought that Kim Jong-un was the latter day Caligula but perhaps it is indeed the Donald.

[cyrax]

As bush said "that was some weird shit"

[Arturo2nd]

Originally Posted by scoundrel

Hillary Clinton would have been a dreadful president, and would have had much less comedy value than Mr Trump.

Much as I alternate between being alarmed, angered, and deeply saddened by the news coming from the U.S. capital these days, I will admit that an HRC presidency would have featured much boredom, many op eds from strident women, and unremitting partisan bickering.

Our ancestors may have been blessed to have been spared television "news" coverage and the Internet.

[Devius]

President Donald Trump has removed his senior strategist Steve Bannon from the US National Security Council (NSC).

The appointment in January raised fears that the circle of US intelligence chiefs was being politicised.

A White House aide said the reshuffle was not a demotion for Mr Bannon, who used to head up Breitbart News.

The aide said Mr Bannon was only given a seat on the NSC to keep an eye on National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, who was fired in February.

Details:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-39508351