Trump

[scawsby steve]

Hound

It's very simple. He's a criminal. And he will do whatever he can get away with doing, in order to avoid spending the rest of his life in prison. Including going a long way towards destroying American democracy.

Absorb that, and every action he takes makes sense.

Rightly or wrongly, you'd better get used to it; he'll p*ss it for a second term in 2020; anyone who doubts that is self deluded.

Incidently, would you regard guttersnipe journalists as decent people?.

He’ll probably be in jail in 2020

In jail for what?.

[scawsby steve]

This is the take home message about Tuesday's vote by the way.

https://mobile.twitter.com/NateSilver538/status/1060517002404659201

As Nate Silver says, you'd need a 6% swing to the Republicans to make the 2020 election balanced. Not out of the question, but you need to factor in that Trump can't hide his criminality now that he's lost the House. So the odds are very much against him being able to make a swing like that.

OK Billy, let's keep this amicable and fair; let's have a £50 bet, and whoever wins donates it to the Rovers foodbank. I can't be any fairer than that.

If Trump wins in 2020, I win, if A.N. Other wins for the Democrats, you win. How about it?.

[MachoMadness]

We're well down the rabbit hole now. The leader of the free world (or his office) is openly tweeting out doctored videos to smear and suppress a prominent journalist. I'm shocked at how not shocked I am. Can you imagine that happening in the developed world a decade ago? Can you imagine the shockwaves that'd cause? But in 2018, we'll have forgotten about it by next week. I do question where it all ends, and what the world will look like when it does.

And Rovers have lost 3 on the bounce. f**k me. What a world.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Scawsby.

Given that the best price you can get on Trump is 13/8, that hardly seems fair on you. If Trump wins, I'll put £80 in.

[BillyStubbsTears]

And so it goes on.

https://mobile.twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1060723241193484288?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

What's actually happened here is that there is a recount going on, and one very large county is late completing. The Republican candidate, with no evidence whatsoever, has said there is a legal investigation going on into voting fraud in the county. I repeat. With no evidence whatsoever.

And the Leader of the Free World is screaming out his support and claiming that the Republican has won.

This isn't showmanship. This is how democracy collapses. Anyone who looks at this sort of behaviour and shrugs their shoulders doesn't really believe in democracy.

[idler]

If possible Trump looks more stupid and devious with every day that passes.

[Yargo]

Here's a novel idea, lets hear from the person who "doctored" the video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zo7ORobbXPw

[BillyStubbsTears]

Well, it's not like InfoWars have previous in propagating conspiracy theories and fake news is it?

So you could ask an independent video expert for his analysis, rather than someone who has skin in the game.
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2018/11/ap-video-expert-says-white-house-clip-of-cnn-reporter-was-likely-doctored/

[silent majority]

Well, Channel 4 must be getting it wrong as well then;

https://twitter.com/Channel4News/status/1060843583228514304

[BillyStubbsTears]

On the one side there's Trump, Breitbart and InfoWars.

On the other side there's everyone else in the world.

Take your pick.

[Sandy Lane]

Yes, it’s pretty surreal here.  The stunt with the doctored video is unworthy of this country, yet it’s the new normal here.  We call it Friday.

Many of us got a bit excited and slept better for one night after the election when the Dems won the House of Reps, then Trump’s meltdown began and he has sunk lower with denial of press credentials and is now trying to embarrass and shame other reporters for basically doing their jobs.  He is also attempting to prevent recounts in states where there were irregularities with voting.  Who needs Russia?  We seem to be very adept at perverting justice ourselves.

As for the Muller investigation, I just hope that Mueller foresaw this scenario and has taken measures to safeguard what he may have  already uncovered.  Apparently there was talk that Don Jr was to be indicted shortly, which was the reason for the swift firing of Sessions and his apparent Trump-approved replacement.  Trump is acting like a very guilty person caught in a trap, and we can only hope that any evidence of his apparent wrong-doing comes out soon.  I just worry he will take everything and anything down with him, as you can see that in his very reckless actions.

[BillyStubbsTears]

So.

Last week Trump sacked the Attorney General and replaced him with Matthew Whitaker, who has the power to shut down the Mueller investigation, and who is on record several times as saying the Mueller investigation should be shut down.

Conflict of interest? Yeah, perhaps. So you'd expect the Leader of the Free World to be upfront about his connections with Whitaker.

35:35 here. This is what he said a month ago.
https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://m.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3D_CI6dPvi2bY&ved=2ahUKEwihxu6H4s7eAhVRzhoKHR-tB-AQwqsBMAB6BAgIEAU&usg=AOvVaw0QFkCKFVZwNwouHRTxHuAt

Then this is what he tweeted on Saturday as he hid in his Paris hotel room rather than get his hair wet at a Remenmbrance ceremony.

https://mobile.twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1061104224090628097

Looks like a man panicking and floundering to me.

Did I say "man"? I don't often agree with Tory MPs but Nicholas Soames was right on the money here.

https://mobile.twitter.com/NSoames/status/1061270124404113408?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fd-33805761102855944212.ampproject.net%2F1811091510240%2Fframe.html

Trump is a pathetic inadequate. A criminal, venal, cowardly, narcissistic man-child. Who is going to be very publicly humiliated and eviscerated over the next two years.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Problem is, of course, not what happens to that piece of shit.

It's what happens to democracy now that this sort of behaviour is normalised. 40% of people seem not to care about the pathological lying and the criminality and the incompetence, as long as he's telling them what they want to believe.

Just as with Brexit. It doesn't matter what evidence of lying and criminality from the Leave campaign comes to light. It doesn't matter what evidence of treason comes out. It doesn't matter what evidence comes out of the economic and diplomatic shambles that we've thrown ourselves into. People want Brexit to be right so they'll ignore all that and instead throw abuse at people who point it out for being elitist and condescending.

[Sandy Lane]

So Andy, speaking of Trump not wanting to get his hair wet, I’m wondering if it was more for show to publicly NOT stand with the EU leaders or march with them, so Putin would see he is still with him, not them.  That’s my suspicious mind, but it did occur to me there may be more to it.  Also he knows his supporters will not turn against him no what he does or in this case, doesn’t do - though he is getting quite a bit of criticism from veterans.

As for democracy, I’m going to wait and see what happens with Trump.  Maybe if the Mueller probe gets completed and justice is done, maybe,  just maybe it will also restore some semblance to the rule of law.  Hopefully his supporters would then see him as he truly is.  Also I’m so happy the Dems winning the majority in the House showed the Republicans that a lot of us Americans can’t abide Trump, his policies and lies and those that allow him to debase the laws are voted out.

About Brexit, why doesn’t Teresa May just call for a new vote?  She won’t be any less popular than she is now, so what does she have to lose.  Is it because she supported reman initially, so she doesn’t want people to think she is not upholding the Brexit vote, even though there seems to be evidence supporting that a new vote would be favorable to the majority due to the shenanigans that went on with misinformation campaigns and probable Russian intervention on the leave side.  I understand that a vote should stand, but even under these circumstances?  Apologies if this has already been discussed in the Brexit thread.

[idler]

It's nice to hear from an American worried about their democracy rather than cheering Trump's ridiculous posturing. Sometimes he reminds me of the way Mussolini used to stand milking the crowd.
Trump reminds me of one of the evil villains that is seen in cartoon shows.

[Donnywolf]

I could not believe when I heard he had not gone to commemorate the War dead because of "adverse" Weather conditions.

I immediately had a rant saying - what about the dead and injured ? They could not say things like "oi its a bit wet in this Trench" and " its a bit muddy - I reckon I might slip as I run headlong into almost certain death to help future generations by fighting for them in these conditions"

I am not a Trump fan and no matter how I try I always think of the creature in Groundhog Day - was it Punxatawny Phil or something similar. Why I have that image I do not know

[Dutch Uncle]

I am surprised more is not being made of his geo-political gaffe in Europe last weekend. He was introduced to the leaders of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and immedately criticsed them for starting the war in the former Yugoslavia. He was unable to distinguish between the Baltics and the Balkans, despite his wife coming from the latter! When his error was pointed out he criticised them for Nordstream II gas project ....in which they are not even participating. And then he suggested they become more friendly with Russia.

Hilarious if it weren't so dangerous.

I remember that when President Bush visited Northern Ireland in the early noughties that he was asked which part of Northern Ireland are you most looking forward to seeing .... and he said Dublin. I remember thinking this was a new low for an American politician's lack of global awareness and ignorance of anything in Europe. At least Bush had some decent advisors around him to help him out. Trump truly is in a total Emperor's new clothes situation. I am becoming seriously worried about him achieving Putin's holy grail and pulling the US out of NATO if he is around for all of the next 2 years.

However there now seem to be rumours of Murdoch, who owns Fox News etc, pulling his support for Trump. That would hurt him I reckon.

[Filo]

His latest rant is beyond belief, coming from the supposed leader of the free world

Emmanuel Macron suggests building its own army to protect Europe against the U.S., China and Russia. But it was Germany in World Wars One & Two - How did that work out for France? They were starting to learn German in Paris before the U.S. came along. Pay for NATO or not!

[RedJ]

It would all be hilarious if it didn't have potentially catastrophic ramifications...

[Orlandokarla]

It's nice to hear from an American worried about their democracy rather than cheering Trump's ridiculous posturing. Sometimes he reminds me of the way Mussolini used to stand milking the crowd.
Trump reminds me of one of the evil villains that is seen in cartoon shows.

The whole thing is still surreal, even now. It's a shambles... an absolute disgrace.
Most Americans are embarrassed by the current state of affairs, and appalled at how the country is being represented.

[BillyStubbsTears]

True that "most" are. But there's still a regular 40% approve of him in the polls.

Just shows how polarised politics is these days. Republicans would rather have a lying, cowardly, amoral, narcissistic, treasonous criminal in the WH than a Democrat.

[silent majority]

Definitely worth a read!

https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/1064726398307315712

[BillyStubbsTears]

The Leader of the Free World re-tweeted this today.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1057126984285712384

Facts and truth appear to have entirely evaporated from the modern debate.

[Dutch Uncle]

Definitely worth a read!

https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/1064726398307315712

I can recommend his book.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Got it on my Xmas list Dutch. Although, having read his Twitter feed every day for the past 18 months, I've seen most of this.

Here's another development that he predicted.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-46390368

If American democracy survives this abhorrent man-child, Abramson will be a big part of the success story. The mainstream media have been bleeding useless.

[silent majority]

Definitely worth a read!

https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/1064726398307315712

I can recommend his book.

I'm currently working my way through it Dutch. It's an exceptional read!.

[silent majority]

This is part of the intro;

It’s within this framework of experience, principle, and philosophy that I say that I have never before encountered a criminal investigation in which the entirety of the evidence is as damning as it is in the Trump-Russia investigation.

[Dutch Uncle]

Definitely worth a read!

https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/1064726398307315712

I can recommend his book.

I'm currently working my way through it Dutch. It's an exceptional read!.

Me too!

[BillyStubbsTears]

And we think WE have a leader who is hopelessly detached from reality...
https://mobile.twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1073248244787015680

[MachoMadness]

I can practically smell the sweaty palms that typed that Tweet out. He's absolutely shitting it.

Every time he vomits something like that into the world I think Don Jr is about to be indicted. Maybe this time...