Shutdowns, military pullouts, and resignations: it’s Christmas and Trump thread 89

[TheClaws]

It’s chaos in Trump’s world, more so than usual, with #TrumpResign trending in Twitter after a number of key debacles: the pull-out of US troops from Syria, the resignation of General Jim Mattis, and the shutdown of the government over Christmas due to bipartisan disagreement over wall funding. (Those are just 3 issues.) The next few weeks will be rocky.

Previous thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3442038-But-When-the-president-does-it-that-means-it-is-not-illegal-Trump-thread-LXXXVIII

Sorry if I got it wrong, but I seem to remember that the fine to Cambridge Analytica will be per day until they disclose the data, isn't it?

Still not a lot, but at some point the judge will surely consider it contempt of court or something, or not?

That's called 'sticking it out', Rod Jay.

Can anyone please please please confirm I am not going (even more) mad?

When this demand about paying for the wall was first made, before Christmas, I thought Trump was requiring the US taxpayers to pony up $5 billion.

Then I blinked during the holiday and when I next noticed him, he seemed to be demanding $5.5 billion.

Then last week it was $5.6 billion.

And last night, am I wrong or was it $5.7 billion?

And didn't the money that was "needed" go down from $25 billion in 2017 to $18 billion, at one point last year?

I can't keep track from one day to the next of how much the wretched eyesore is supposed to be costing.

And am I right that they haven't yet spent the last lot they chiselled out of the taxpayers, because they haven't actually built anything at all on that site during the past two years?

Help!

Oh, good question, AskingQuestions.

Erm, I haven't been keeping track. I may while away a winter evening looking that lot up...

Here you go AQATT.

cost of the wall

So, if the wall keeps getting more expensive but and less tangible, will the US tax payers end up paying an infinite amount of dollars for vacuum?

Meanwhile,
The Government Shutdown Will Cost More Than Trump's $5 Billion Border Wall Funding, According to Experts

finance.yahoo.com/news/government-shutdown-cost-more-trumps-170955615.html?guccounter=1

Must be a metaphor for the Trump presidency. No-one knows what the hell it is and how much it will cost ...

observer.com/2019/01/robert-mueller-top-secret-intelligence-will-sink-trump-presidency/

It's an old (2 months) piece, but I like the title. There's hoping.

President Trump Really May Go to Jail—For the Rest of His Life

observer.com/2018/12/president-trump-really-may-go-to-jail-for-the-rest-of-his-life/amp/

Must be a metaphor for the Trump presidency. No-one knows what the hell it is

Omigawd, it's an offog! projectavalon.net/Allamagoosa.pdf

With luck, it will come apart under gravitational stress.

AskingQuestion, by jove, I think she's got it!

I knows it’s the daily mail, not a completely reliable source but this made me laugh. www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6571933/Trump-reportedly-said-did-NOT-want-Oval-Office-speech-wall.html
‘It was Kellyanne and Sarah made me do it’

Trump admits he's holding govt workers to ransom to get his wall. They should really impeach the whole of the GOP for supporting this SOB.

Jon Karl asks Trump why he won't sign bills to get fed workers paid during the shutdown.

Trump just attacks Karl: "Would you do that if you were in my position? Because if you would do that, you should never be in this position, because you'd never get anything done." Via CBS https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1083068593871282176/video/1

‘It was Kellyanne and Sarah made me do it’

If he did say that, and I wouldn't be surprised, it's simply because he now knows that his speech blathering bullshit was not 'well received' by pretty much everyone. As usual, he is constitutionally unable to accept fault or blame so he points his tiny finger at KAC & SHS.

I really don’t understand how stopping so many people from working (and earning - not their choice) can be legal. Shame he can’t go on strike himself.

And the goalposts shift again. This congressman is arguing that because Manafort already worked for the Ukrainians who had links with the Russians, it was ok to pass on polling data.

🤯

twitter.com/atrupar/status/1082997030740525056
.@SenatorLankford says he doesn't think Trump's campaign boss giving polling data to person connected to Russian intel is collusion b/c Manafort knew the intel agent previously.

"This is an ongoing relationship that Manafort had...I don't see this as deliberate contact w/Russia" twitter.com/atrupar/status/1082997030740525056/video/1

I like that too, Lweji.

thehill.com/homenews/media/424560-pelosi-schumer-response-tops-trump-speech-in-preliminary-ratings

www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/01/09/heres-problem-with-only-pitching-your-craziest-supporters/?utm_term=.a121f10cfd8b

Equal viewings on Fox? That's not good.

'There is no endgame'. Vanity Fair article.

The shutdown has pushed the Russia investigation out of the news cycle. But Trumpworld knows it hasn’t gone away. Rudy Giuliani recently told a friend that he expects Mueller’s report to be “horrific,” a person briefed on the conversation said (Giuliani did not respond to a request for comment). “You’re already hearing people speculate Trump could do a deal and resign.”

www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/01/trump-aides-fear-the-wall-will-be-his-alamo

Maddow speculates that Trump did the broadcast to keep the spotlight on him after the Dems were getting all the coverage so he won't be happy with those ratings.

www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/trump-need-for-attention-could-explain-sudden-timing-of-speech-1422358083778

This will be interesting especially now he knows lying to Congress has real consequences. Is he arrogant enough to think Daddy will protect him? Probably.

twitter.com/RVAwonk/status/1083074510830649344

The new Democratic-controlled House Intelligence Committee is restarting the Russia probe that Republicans prematurely shut down last year -- and Donald Trump Jr. will be the first person they subpoena.

My latest.
shareblue.com/house-intel-committee-subpoena-trump-jr-russia-probe/

NEW: House Democrats, flexing their oversight muscles, call STEVE MNUCHIN to the Hill tomorrow for questioning about
@USTreasury
's decision to lift sanctions on OLEG DERIPASKA's companies. The briefing will be classified/closed press.

www.nytimes.com/2019/01/09/us/politics/congress-summons-mnuchin-to-explain-russian-sanctions-removal.html

This thread 😳 twitter.com/Mikel_Jollett/status/1083008720601141249

Adderall is an amphetamine which makes your pupils dilate. This is a person sitting in front of bright TV lights whose pupils should be contracted.

Side effects of Adderall addiction include aggression, memory loss, mania, impulsivity and disorientation. twitter.com/Mikel_Jollett/status/1083008720601141249/photo/1