President Donald Trump's Final Days...

[cicciobuki]

Originally Posted by DonaldJTrump

Didn't you guys all think Trump would start WWIII with Russia the moment he got into Office?

No. Though i also didn't think he'd be giving them confidential information.

[Devius]

News #1: White House lawyers research impeachment

Washington (CNN): White House lawyers have begun researching impeachment procedures in an effort to prepare for what officials still believe is a distant possibility that President Donald Trump could have to fend off attempts to remove him from office, two people briefed on the discussions tell CNN.
White House officials believe the President has the backing of Republican allies in Congress and that impeachment is not in the cards, according to the people briefed on the legal discussions. Even Democrats have tried to calm impeachment talk out of concern it is premature.
But lawyers in the White House counsel's office have consulted experts in impeachment during the past week and have begun collecting information on how such proceedings would work, a person briefed on the matter told CNN.

The White House originally did not comment for this story. After publication, a White House official said "it's not true" that White House lawyers are researching impeachment procedures.

Details:
http://edition.cnn.com/2017/05/19/po...ent/index.html



News #2: Comey to testify publicly before intelligence panel

(CNN) Former FBI Director James Comey will testify publicly before the Senate intelligence committee, committee leaders announced Friday. Panel Chairman Richard Burr and Vice Chairman Mark Warner said they will schedule the hearing for after Memorial Day. A date has not been set.
"The Committee looks forward to receiving testimony from the former Director on his role in the development of the Intelligence Community Assessment on Russian interference in the 2016 US elections, and I am hopeful that he will clarify for the American people recent events that have been broadly reported in the media," Intelligence Chairman Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina said in a statement.
Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the panel, said Comey's testimony would help "answer some of the questions that have arisen since Director Comey was so suddenly dismissed by the President."

Comey's testimony was sought from numerous congressional committees after news broke last week that he had written a memo stating President Donald Trump had asked him to drop his investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

Details:
http://edition.cnn.com/2017/05/19/po....html?adkey=bn


All together now: "Lock him up, Lock him up, Lock him up"....
Seriously though, you couldn't make this stuff up...

[hound dog]

Originally Posted by DonaldJTrump

Didn't you guys all think Trump would start WWIII with Russia the moment he got into Office?

No, never.

I personally thought Trump would give them a freer hand at carrying out their political and military policy in Syria, specifically, and the rest of the world in general.

Why would someone think Trump would get aggressive with Russia when they believe his campaign colluded with them on the fake news that was being released to help his seemingly at times struggling campaign? The only way I see Trump acting against Russia's interests is if they were to publicly embarrass him. An embarrassed and upset Trump might lash out at Russia, that's what he does to people and groups who he feels are against him. His toadies and supporters get a pass, regardless.

BTW, I don't watch news networks and programs, any of them. I tend to read from many different sources when interested in a current event. Just give me facts, not opinions. An opinion I can develop on my own once I know what the TRUE facts are.

[Devius]

In my opinion the Donald is his own worst enemy, if the latest allegations are true.

He couldn't even follow the script for the reasons behind the sacking of James Comey, the director of the FBI.

Any more weeks like this, and it won't matter whether one considers these news stories fake or not - he'll be a dead man walking.

[hound dog]

Originally Posted by Devius

Any more weeks like this, and it won't matter whether one considers these news stories fake or not - he'll be a dead man walking.

I think he's an ineffectual President walking already. He's losing the confidence of his Republican mainstream base. With mid-term elections approaching, Republicans in the Congress will likely abandon Trump if they feel it's politically expedient to be reelected. The fringe voters will never abandon him because they see him as the best chance of realizing their more extreme goals. But the fringe doesn't carry districts on their own, they need mainstream Republican support as well for that.

Trump is not and never has been someone who roll's up their sleeves and tackled problem solving them self. He's the boss, the face man. He sits at his desk, pushing his red button to be brought a Coke, and hires people to solve the problems. If the problem isn't solved in what he considers a timely manner, they're fired and someone else is tasked with that responsibility. Rinse and repeat.

[diamelsx]

Originally Posted by Brian249x

Then you are SOL. As a registered Democrat, I am forced to admit that the party seems incapable of formulating rational and coherent ideals. The PC crowd recently got their panties in a wad (knickers in a bunch? or is it twisted?) when Nancy Pelosi stated that religious liberals belong in the party despite having moral objections to abortions.

Progressives were upset that the party keeps reaching out across the aisle while ignoring the concerns of their base voters (working class and younger voters). This was the exact strategy for the last couple of election cycles and turnout has dwindled and the loses have accumulated as a result. So why keep on this same path. It would make far more sense to take care of your base then start reaching out to the other constituents.

[Rogerbh]

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/ne...rticle/2623755
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2016...-shot-dead-dc/

Would be interesting to see this story developed. If a dissatisfied Bernie supporter leaked it rather than the Russians, would it matter?

[diamelsx]

Originally Posted by Rogerbh

If a dissatisfied Bernie supporter leaked it rather than the Russians, would it matter?

Hell yeah it matters.Think about it like this. If it was the Russians it gives them more coverage to attack organizations like wikileaks, and enact laws attacking press freedoms. If this was an inside job that coverage disapears. I am not surprised they are not trying to cover this in any substantive way and they are trying to frame it as a conspiracy theory not to be taken seriously.

[tsunamiSD]

Someone else has come up with a good explanation for the C-in-C's actions:

A commander in chief without command of sel

There are serious arguments to be made about the moral bankruptcy of Trumpism, with particular attention to its divisiveness, dehumanization and contempt for the weak. But let us, for a moment, set aside morality for effectiveness, as much of the voting public seemed to do last November. By this standard, how should Trump be judged?

The president could not hold up his end of the strongman deal. Trump is the advocate of power politics who knows nothing about the exercise of power. He is the Machiavellian prince — minus instinct, skill and strategy.

Trump was accustomed to belittling and demeaning individuals. It is harder to do with institutions that possess a strong sense of identity and purpose — and possess contemporaneous meeting notes. Tactics appropriate to land-development deals were never going to work on professionals who weaponize information for a living. Trump’s foolish alienation of these agencies is at the root of every damning revelation that led to a special counsel — except those revelations made by Trump himself on Twitter.

Trump has been a victim of his own troubled inner life. It is difficult to master others when you are mastered by self-destructive compulsions of revenge. “He who wishes to be obeyed,” said Machiavelli, “must know how to command.” That is impossible without command of self.
Leadership also requires the ability to critique the self — the kind of mental self-distancing that allows for reflection. A man incapable of blaming himself for anything is a man incapable of learning or changing. To adapt Helen Caldwell’s formulation, Trump is not above reproach; he is above self-reproach. This is a serious disability in a leader, who must be able to adjust quickly and adapt personality to reality.

[Arturo2nd]

Originally Posted by diamelsx

Progressives were upset that the party keeps reaching out across the aisle while ignoring the concerns of their base voters (working class and younger voters). This was the exact strategy for the last couple of election cycles and turnout has dwindled and the loses have accumulated as a result. So why keep on this same path. It would make far more sense to take care of your base then start reaching out to the other constituents.

A) Politics is the art of the possible. Hence, the middle of the road is where deals are going to get made.

B) The progressives are in the same boat with the Democrats as the conservatives are with the Republicans. Both are frustrated with party leaderships, but where are they going to go? The African Americans, progressives, and young people stayed home in November and now we are all suffering for their irresponsible and childish behavior.

C) If progressives wish to pull the country leftwards towards where the polls indicate the true center is, they need to organize and get out the vote in the red states. They also need to get behind progressive candidates in the primaries in the blue states and work unceasingly to fight gerrymandering. It wouldn't hurt to win a lot of jobs at the city and county level to prevent Republican election officials from putting their thumbs on the scales. (I'm talking about ballot boxes from Democratic precincts winding up in the Ohio River and "hanging chads" in 2000.)

BTW, California is lurching towards a statewide single payer system. Hopefully, this will be the first step towards a rational nationwide system.

Here are a couple of interesting articles.

http://www.businessinsider.com/how-a...ndustry-2017-5

https://www.washingtonpost.com/busin...evening&wpmm=1

The Republicans want to cut back services to the poor at the same time as automation is eliminating millions of jobs. This is not really anything new. Millions of jobs for accounting clerks, secretaries, and warehouse workers have been automated out of existence. Whole layers of middle managers are long gone. Self driving big rigs are on the horizon. We really do need to improve our education system to address the disconnection between needed skills and what students are leaning. But even then, the current methods of divvying up the national income are socially unsustainable. Putting bright people on the street provides the leadership talent for a future revolution.

The Republicans plan seems to rely on killing off millions of the poor through starvation, exposure, denial of medical care and suborning drug companies efforts to create millions of opioid addicts.