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

That led me to two things, one hilarious and the other not.

www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/01/15/trump-has-turned-white-house-into-white-castle-president-roasted-serving-clemson-fast-food/?utm_term=.b8f0ea238bc0

Cold takeaways are everyone's favourite food, right?

www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/01/16/an-year-olds-obituary-said-trump-hastened-her-death-local-paper-wouldnt-run-it/?utm_term=.c2e13526e45b

just makes me wonder what possessed them to be so stupid; didn't they realise not printing it was a sure-fire way to get it maximum publicity, whereas very few people outside her friends and family would have noticed if they had just printed it?

Counter to Trumps tweet, government workers stories and viewpoints.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jan/16/government-shutdown-stories-federal-workers-life-without-pay

The Streisand Effect strikes again!

www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/1/16/18185226/nancy-pelosi-state-of-the-union-shutdown

Excuse me for being dim.....what is the Streisand effect.

Minimammoth - this link should help. I've read about the Streisand effect on these threads before, I think, and have to look it up again every time, I'm afraid

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez secures powerful House committee seat that gives her a huge say over Wall Street

I wonder how that will work out. Can't quite figure out if she's the real deal or a quick burner.

read.bi/2VT6nHL

Manu Raju
@mkraju
Senate Intel Chairman Richard Burr WON’T pursue notes from American interpreter at the Trump-Putin meetings.

“If I were the president, I would try to claim executive privilege in anything that had to do with him.”

Asked if he would try to get those notes, Burr told me: “No.”

Susan Hennessey
@Susan_Hennessey
To not even consider asking because the president might claim privilege would seem to cut against the prevailing belief that Burr is, in fact, overseeing a thorough and reasonable Russia investigation in Senate Intel.

Laura Litvan
@LauraLitvan
NEW: Senate just BLOCKED a Chuck Schumer measure that would prevent the Trump admin from lifting sanctions on three firms linked to Russian oligarch and Putin ally Oleg Deripaska.

The vote in the GOP-led Senate was 57-42, short of the 60 needed to move it to a final vote.

GOP Sens. John Boozman (Ark.), Susan Collins (Maine), Tom Cotton (Ark.), Steve Daines (Mont.), Cory Gardner (Colo.), Josh Hawley (Mo.), John Kennedy (La.), Martha McSally (Ariz.), Jerry Moran (Kan.), Marco Rubio (Fla.) and Ben Sasse (Neb.) voted to end debate on the resolution and advance it to a final vote.

[Sanders abstained from voting]

I don't know about AOC either and definitely not clear on Sanders.

Rick Gates Tells Mueller About Trump Team’s Dealings With Israeli Intelligence Firm

www.thedailybeast.com/rick-gates-tells-mueller-about-trump-teams-dealings-with-israeli-intelligence-firm

www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/pence-declares-isis-is-defeated-hours-after-attack-kills-us-troops/2019/01/16/ecc8d1e6-7967-4446-8ed0-afc282e03181_story.html?utm_term=.5741d2ff687d

'Vice President Pence told U.S. diplomats Wednesday that the Islamic State caliphate has collapsed in Syria, but he made no mention of the U.S. military personnel confirmed killed in the country shortly before he spoke.

In remarks filled with praise for the leadership of President Trump, Pence told the Global Chiefs of Mission Conference at the State Department that some of the most heinous enemies of the United States are in retreat.'

www.vice.com/en_us/article/pa5j7g/trump-is-too-incompetent-at-his-job-to-escape-his-own-shutdown

www.justsecurity.org/62261/decoding-barr-letting-public-mueller-report/

We will need a new thread for this stuff.

www.thedailybeast.com/get-ready-for-muellers-phase-two-the-middle-east-connection

Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
There are now 77 major or significant Walls built around the world, with 45 countries planning or building Walls. Over 800 miles of Walls have been built in Europe since only 2015. They have all been recognized as close to 100% successful. Stop the crime at our Southern Border!
mobile.twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1085515276228153345

atthew Gertz
@MattGertz
The statistics actually are for "walls or fences," including "450 miles of barbed wire fencing prevent reindeer from wandering across" the Finland-Russian border.
mobile.twitter.com/MattGertz/status/1085525566646833153

What does a wall need to do in order to be considered a successful wall?
I suppose it just needs to stay up?
There for the walls around my garden are successful walls

For one, it should extend enough below ground to prevent tunnels.
Secondly, it should surround the master bedroom in the WH.

The US to begin withdrawal from INF Treaty (The Guardian).

‘The US has rejected Moscow’s offer to inspect a new Russian missile suspected of violating a key cold-war era treaty, and warned that it would suspend observance of the treaty on 2 February, giving six-month notice of a complete withdrawal.

‘The under-secretary of state for arms control and international security, Andrea Thompson, confirmed the US intention to withdraw from the treaty after a meeting with a Russian delegation in Geneva, which both sides described as a failure.

‘Donald Trump took US allies by surprise when he announced his intention to leave the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty in October. The agreement led to the destruction of thousands of US and Soviet weapons, and has kept nuclear missiles out of Europe for three decades.’

www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/16/us-russia-inf-treaty-nuclear-missile

Pelosi sends a letter to Trump stating he should not deliver the State of the Union address until the Government is reopened - and the salaries of the Secret Service and other security at the event can be assured. Otherwise, he is welcome to deliver it by letter . (It’s an arcane rule of Congress that the Speaker formally invites the President to deliver the SOTU.)

thehill.com/homenews/administration/425751-pelosi-pulls-state-of-the-union-surprise-on-trump

I love Pelosi's letter but am ready to bet Trump will turn up regardless because he is the Great Dictator President and he can do what he likes, the rules of Congress notwithstanding.

Manu Raju
@mkraju
Rudy Giuliani to
@ChrisCuomo
: “I never said there was no collusion between the campaign or between people in the campaign. I have not. I said the president of the United States,” adding that Trump “didn’t commit a crime.”

“If the collusion happened, it happened a long time ago. It’s either provable or it’s not. It’s not provable because it never happened ... There’s no chance it happened with the president of the United States,” Rudy Giuliani said. “I have no idea what other people were doing.”

Merdede I think it could have been an error on Pelosi’s part. It gives Trump an opportunity to preach directly to his base from a pulpit of his choosing - the Oval Office, a factory floor, the southern border even. I don’t believe there is a clause in the Constitution that states the President must deliver the SOTU to both assembled Houses of Congress in person. Given he is playing the part of the ‘working man’s champion’, this plays directly into his hands.

Rudy shoots Trump in the foot again: in a TV interview, he says “I never said there was no collusion”.

The qualifier being there may have been between the campaign and Russia, but not Trump and Russia. YUGE difference, everyone, duh!

www.axios.com/giuliani-never-said-no-collusion-campaign-russia-investigation-879981f9-8b22-4e5d-9fed-3419958cc010.html