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

997 replies

TheClaws · 23/12/2018 07:09

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

Shutdowns, military pullouts, and resignations: it’s Christmas and Trump thread 89
OP posts:
Thread gallery
43
TheNorthWestPawsage · 15/01/2019 18:27

NEW: Mueller’s work does not appear finished. The Special Counsel tells judge it is not yet time to sentence former Trump campaign aide Rick Gates, as he “continues to cooperate with respect to several ongoing investigations...” Request update in 2 months.
@kpolantz reports
twitter.com/joshscampbell/status/1085216232930971648?s=21

OnTheDarkSideOfTheSpoon · 15/01/2019 19:15

Caroline Orr
@RVAwonk
#BREAKING: Per
@CNN
, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand just announced that she is running for president in 2020.

OnTheDarkSideOfTheSpoon · 15/01/2019 20:07

Russia In 'Material Breach' Of Key Nuclear Treaty, U.S. Says

www.rferl.org/a/russia-in-material-breach-of-key-nuclear-treaty-u-s-says/29711650.html

AcrossthePond55 · 15/01/2019 20:11

So the Brexit vote....does this mean no Brexit at all or that it's going to be a blind jump with no strategy?

Sorry guys but it's nice that I can worry about something that ISN'T Scrotus!!

Scrotus is probably calling Theresa and telling her to shut down the Govt and build a wall since that's working so well for him.

Roussette · 15/01/2019 20:16

It's all a total mess Across, goodness knows what will happen now. Jeremy Corbyon (opposition to Theresa) is faffing around with a no confidence vote which will be voted on tomorrow I think.

PerkingFaintly · 15/01/2019 20:17

Grin Got to get your goodtimes somewhere, Across. I'm partly on the Trump threads for the displacement from Brexit!

Yeah. Putin will be chuffed. Jacob Rees-Mogg will be chuffed. Steve Bannon will be chuffed. And Scrotus will tell Theresa it's a simple solution, she just needs to listen to his advice to build a wall.

OnTheDarkSideOfTheSpoon · 15/01/2019 20:46

As it stands, we are still set to leave with no deal as that’s the default since we triggered article 50. If the MPs can mobilise an alternative, they might be able to extend article 50/organise another referendum but the danger is that no action has a big enough majority to push it through and we automatically fall off that cliff edge.

OnTheDarkSideOfTheSpoon · 15/01/2019 20:48

ndrew Prokop
@awprokop
Mysterious source close to Michael Cohen tells WSJ he won't be able to testify re: Russia/Mueller, but will testify about working for "madman" Trump and will "say things that will give you chills."

So, calibrate your expectations appropriately.

www.wsj.com/articles/mueller-probe-likely-to-restrict-michael-cohens-testimony-11547583925

lionheart · 15/01/2019 20:48

I don't know Across Confused

www.wsj.com/articles/mueller-probe-likely-to-restrict-michael-cohens-testimony-11547583925

“He’s going to tell the story of what it’s like to work for a madman, and why he did it for so long,” source close to Michael Cohen tells @WSJ. “He’s going to say things that will give you chills.”

Sleipnirthewonderhorse · 15/01/2019 21:33

Yet another tell all book about Trump presidency
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jan/15/chris-christie-book-jared-kushner-accusations-hit-job?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Jared Kushners family sound like absolute charmers. Apparently his father "hired a sex worker to seduce his brother-in-law Bill Schulder, then filmed them having sex in a motel and sent the tape to his own sister, Esther. The bizarre plot was an attempt to blackmail the Schulders"

AskingQuestionsAllTheTime · 15/01/2019 22:21

Oh-h-h-h-h..... Might this explain Trump's ridiculous over-length tie habit?

From that Guardian article: "Trump returned to the theme of girth during the 2016 presidential campaign, exhorting Christie to wear a longer tie as it would make him look thinner."

It doesn't, but it looks as if Trump thinks it does.

lionheart · 15/01/2019 23:14

Manafort

AcrossthePond55 · 15/01/2019 23:48

Thanks for the Brexit info, all. It does sound a mess. I keep thinking of what would happen if we (Calif) suddenly 'Cal-exited' from the US and all the things that would need doing. You don't realize how 'intertwined' you are until you think about 'dis-intwining'.

Well, hands across the water all, on this thread we're all in this together.

Wish we had the ability to call a vote of no confidence!

TheClaws · 15/01/2019 23:51

Laura Litvan

Verified account

@LauraLitvan
1h1 hour ago
More
JUST NOW: A rare Senate GOP split from Trump admin:

Senate voted 57-42 to take up a Chuck Schumer resolution blocking Treasury from lifting sanctions on three firms with ties to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska.

Nearly a dozen Repubs voted with Dems to bring it to floor

OP posts:
TheClaws · 16/01/2019 00:17

Mueller files evidence of Manafort’s lies.

thehill.com/policy/national-security/425528-mueller-filing-lays-out-evidence-of-manaforts-alleged-lies

OP posts:
TheClaws · 16/01/2019 02:59

Not sure if this has been posted, but it is an excerpt of a Daily Caller Shock article that Trump and Trump Jnr. tweeted. It is written supposed by a furloughed senior federal official. This official not only supports the shutdown, but proposes using it to trim federal departments of workers - workers who may be underperforming, unnecessary, or unsupportive of President Trump. This piece has fascist rhetoric it doesn’t take much pains to hide. (Remembering Tucker Carlson, Fox pundit, owns the Daily Caller.) If Trump has read this, it’s a bad sign for America’s furloughed workers.

‘Senior officials can reprioritize during an extended shutdown, focus on valuable results and weed out the saboteurs. We do not want most employees to return, because we are working better without them. Sure, we empathize with families making tough financial decisions, like mine, and just like private citizens who have to find other work and bring competitive value every day, while paying more than a third of their salary in federal taxes.

‘President Trump has created more jobs in the private sector than the furloughed federal workforce. Now that we are shut down, not only are we identifying and eliminating much of the sabotage and waste, but we are finally working on the president’s agenda.

‘President Trump does not need Congress to address the border emergency, and yes, it is an emergency. Billions upon billions of hard-earned tax dollars are still being dumped into foreign aid programs every year that do nothing for America’s interest or national security. The president does not need congressional funding to deconstruct abusive agencies who work against his agenda. This is a chance to effect real change, and his leverage grows stronger every day the shutdown lasts.

‘The president should add to his demands, including a vote on all of his political nominees in the Senate. Send the career appointees back. Many are in the 5 percent of saboteurs and resistance leaders.

‘A word of caution: To be a victory, this shutdown must be different than those of the past and should achieve lasting disruption with two major changes, or it will hurt the president.

‘The first thing we need out of this is better security, particularly at the southern border. Our founders envisioned a free market night watchman state, not the bungled bloated bureaucracy our government has become. But we have to keep the uniformed officers paid, which is an emergency. Ideally, continue a resolution to pay the essential employees only, if they are truly working on national security. Furloughed employees should find other work, never return and not be paid.

‘Secondly, we need savings for taxpayers. If this fight is merely rhetorical bickering with Nancy Pelosi, we all lose, especially the president. But if it proves that government is better when smaller, focusing only on essential functions that serve Americans, then President Trump will achieve something great that Reagan was only bold enough to dream.

‘The president’s instincts are right. Most Americans will not miss non-essential government functions. A referendum to end government plunder must happen. Wasteful government agencies are fighting for relevance but they will lose. Now is the time to deliver historic change by cutting them down forever.’

The author is a senior official in the Trump administration.

OP posts:
Roussette · 16/01/2019 07:49

Most Americans will not miss non-essential government functions

Does that include food safety checks and Transport Security (aka Air Traffic Control in this country) ? Shock
Chilling article. Any ideas who wrote it?

lionheart · 16/01/2019 08:05

Covering the essentials, like drilling for oil.

www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-15/trump-s-selective-recalls-curb-unpopular-disruptions-tests-law

'The Trump administration has ordered thousands of furloughed federal employees back to work without pay to inspect planes, issue tax refunds, monitor food safety and facilitate the sale of offshore oil drilling rights.'

OnTheDarkSideOfTheSpoon · 16/01/2019 09:39

Sarah Kendzior has some good threads on this:

Sarah Kendzior
‏***@sarahkendzior
Following Following @sarahkendzior*
More Sarah Kendzior Retweeted Jennifer A. Dlouhy
Thread. When I said Trump would strip the US and sell it for parts and that this would get worse during the shutdown this is part of what I envisioned. Keep an eye on federal lands too.

Rest of thread: twitter.com/sarahkendzior/status/1085267176838348802

And

Sarah Kendzior
‏***@sarahkendzior*
Jan 14
More Sarah Kendzior Retweeted Sarah Kendzior
"The non-essential worker is the archetypal hire. Our worst-case scenarios are simply scenarios."

The GOP ideology of the 2013 shutdown weaken government, deem federal services unnecessary, and ultimately privatize and profit has merged with the kleptocratic agenda of a Russian asset who wants to not only destroy federal services, but destroy the US itself.

It's not a shutdown as a means to an end; the shutdown is its own end.

Once again, people are relying on norms and expectations that do not apply to Trump. There is no leverage in poll numbers; this is not about the base. This is not about the wall. This is about the end.

twitter.com/sarahkendzior/status/1084959717619843078

PerkingFaintly · 16/01/2019 10:01

Well, I guess it's helpful to have a supposed senior federal official working in the White House stating the aims in that many words. (And even if it the source is unreliable, the fact 45 and Jr have retweeted the article suggests they're in agreement.)

It's what I've been saying this admin were trying to do.

I hadn't foreseen the calling back of selective workers – and unpaid – though. That really is adding insult to injury.

I wonder what Mr Rand Paul "socialized medicine is slavery" will have to say about actual unpaid labour enforced by law.

TheClaws · 16/01/2019 10:20

No idea who wrote it. ‘Anonymous’ - of another ilk - strikes again.

OP posts:
OnTheDarkSideOfTheSpoon · 16/01/2019 14:27

Deripaska’s Rusal Flouts Sanctions Pledge With New Kremlin Stooge
The move further concerned lawmakers already worried that the changes made to comply with Treasury’s demands would prove cosmetic.

www.thedailybeast.com/deripaskas-rusal-installs-kremlin-fanboy-as-white-house-aims-to-lift-sanctions