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Timeline of Michael Flynn scandal
What is troubling is this...the DOJ warned the Trump administration about the situation in late January. What action was taken then? Is this a case of incompetency or something more sinister?
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Arrogance and incompetence are sufficient for this, we don't need to factor in malice without more evidence.
Which there well may be.
-- Bob
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Quote:Bob Schroeck wrote:
Arrogance and incompetence are sufficient for this, we don't need to factor in malice without more evidence.
Which there well may be.
The phone intercepts between Flynn and the Russian ambassador should give proof one way or another. Moscow may give back Snowden in return for Flynn.
Ed it: So that's one out and gone. Is this the start of the "Night of the Long Knives"?
Edit2: Trump knew about Flynn's actions weeks before
That raises several troubling questions now. The biggest one: Was there a quid pro quo between Trump and the Russians during the election. If this happened a Clinton administration, the GOP will baying for an investigation right now. Oh right they are having one on how the news got out.
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Quote:If this happened a Clinton administration, the GOP will baying for an investigation right now. Oh right they are having one on how the news got out.
Never forget, it's always a different rule for Republicans. Never expect them to hold themselves to the same standard they require of Democrats.
-- Bob
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Quote:Bob Schroeck wrote:
Quote:If this happened a Clinton administration, the GOP will baying for an investigation right now. Oh right they are having one on how the news got out.
Never forget, it's always a different rule for Republicans. Never expect them to hold themselves to the same standard they require of Democrats.
Okay, yesterday Spicer sez that Flynn resigned voluntarily. Now he's saying Trump asked for his resignation. Can't they keep a story line straight? Pretty soon Conway is going to say something different. We may need an Senate investigation after all to sort this out.
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Well, Trump's response to the Flynn scandal...double down and blame everyone else.
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Quote:Bob Schroeck wrote:
Quote:If this happened a Clinton administration, the GOP will baying for an investigation right now. Oh right they are having one on how the news got out.
Never forget, it's always a different rule for Republicans. Never expect them to hold themselves to the same standard they require of Democrats.
That's not a Republican thing, that's a Politician thing. Neither side holds themselves to the same standard they do the other.
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.
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Oh, I wouldn't say that's entirely true, Norway, but I agree, you're not exactly wrong, either. Still, we see things like the Republicans pretty much slinging every slur they can think of at Democratic Presidents, especially Obama, but demanding respect for the office and the man when the least unflattering nickname emerges for a Republican President. It's okay to call Obama the n-word, but calling Bush 2 "Shrub" is near-treason and unacceptable. And in my experience, the Democrats as a whole have tended to be a lot more courteous to their opposition -- something the Republicans have never seemed to feel obligated to return.
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ordnance11 Wrote:Well, Trump's response to the Flynn scandal...double down and blame everyone else. At least he's consistent.
--
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the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
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Nominee for DOL withdraws
Well, the chaos is growing. Part of the article....
Quote:Agriculture Department hopeful Sonny Perdue has grown nervous about his
own prospects in light of Puzder’s troubles — unable to get access to
Priebus for reassurances that the former Georgia governor's nomination
is still backed by the administration, according to a source familiar
with the matter
Putting your agency heads in place is laborious enough under the best of circumstances. You still have the 2nd and 3rd tier positions you have to fill. I will not be surprised if the 3rd tier positions are not filled until after the mid terms. Even that may be optimistic. And these are the folks who will run the nuts and bolts. The GOP is just about out of political capital to push through the rest of the nominations.
BTW, Trump isn't letting the White house open for visits.
And in the meantime, Trump is still campaigning, not governing. He's still talking about winning the election.
On the Flynn scandal, worse case scenario: Do not be surprised if this follows a Watergate path.
Quote:That's not a Republican thing, that's a Politician thing. Neither side holds themselves to the same standard they do the other.
Don't be surprised if McConnell et al tells Trump he will have to resign for the good of the country. Whether Pence gives him a Presidential pardon or not...well we will see.
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Quote:robkelk wrote:
Quote:ordnance11 wrote:
Well, Trump's response to the Flynn scandal...double down and blame everyone else.
At least he's consistent.
If he had Spicer and Conway be abject and truthful about who what when and why (or at least spin it with least amount of damage) there is a chance of forgiveness by the GOP base and Congress. And then at least make a show of working through the process. But the odds are he won't. Trump has never apologized and he is not about to start now. Why? Because winners never apologize. Right now McConnell is trying desperately to bury the investigation in the Senate Intelligence committee. The pressure is building to have a select committee formed. And Jeff Sessions have better recuse himself in the DOJ investigation unless the appearance of a cover-up arises.
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Trumps press conference today
The link contains the annotated transcription and video.
Here is the nitty gritty
My only question is this: Isn't it a bit early too run for 2020?
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In the face of his accusations and slurs this afternoon, I think the absolute worst thing the media can do to Trump is what they're already doing: repeat him verbatim, leaving him trapped in a logic bomb where he must either admit they did not lie, or admit that he himself is fake news.
-- Bob
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Bob Schroeck Wrote:In the face of his accusations and slurs this afternoon, I think the absolute worst thing the media can do to Trump is what they're already doing: repeat him verbatim, leaving him trapped in a logic bomb where he must either admit they did not lie, or admit that he himself is fake news. One of the political analysts on CBC radio today mentioned something along the lines of the meaning of "fake news" is now "whatever isn't flattering to Trump" - truth and falsehood have nothing to do with whether it's "fake" any more. Thus, it can't be "fake news" if Trump says it.
Mind you, spectators outside the Beltway might disagree with that redefinition.
--
Rob Kelk
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them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
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Right now my default setting on listening to him is to wait for independent confirmation on what was said was true or not.
This came in in the afternoon:
Michael Flynn denied discussing sanctions to the FBI
So the big question now is this: Who gave Flynn his marching orders to discuss sanctions with the Russians? Because I find it hard to believe he'd do it on his own initiative.
Hypothetical: And was there a quid pro quo? And did include shall we say material "inducements"? Because if it came out there is, the White House counsel (McGahn) is either an incompetent, being treated like a mushroom, or is in it too.
We'll have to see what else unfolds.
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"CBC radio" ... and a recent Trump flap concerned the Congressional Black Caucus ... shall we start a pool on how long before he publicly confuses the two in some hilarious way? "Very overrated source of fake news from a bigly overrated country. SAD!"
Edit: Replaced insufficiently Trumpian adverb.
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Why would Pierre want to be involved? Well, see it up. Invite him anyway.
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As one reader comment said, When Fox News isn't buying the BS, you know it's serious!
Yes, Chris Wallace of Fox repeatedly challenged Reince Priebus on the "media are the enemy of the American people" line.
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The timing advance on my lawnmower broke not too long ago. It got stuck right at the starting point, firing far after top dead centre to keep the engine from just backfiring.
It ran all right.
It popped and banged and made all sorts of noise, smoking violently as the throttle opened. But still struggled to do much more than idle, smoke and make painful noises. Try to actually do anything with it, and it would just stall and die and emit a sort of pathetic fart of a noise.
It was the single most retarded thing I'd ever seen until that Trump press conference.
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All right the good news is that LTG H.R. McMaster is appointed NSA adviser.
How good this guy is shown during the battle of 73 Easting. His armored cav troop of 8 M1A1 tanks and 8 Bradley scout AFV's ended up destroying 80 tanks of the Republican guard during the battle of 73 Easting. That's a brigade sized formation. And he has been a water walker ever since. That battle is still being taught at CGSC, last time I heard.
The problem is the politics of his appointment. Why would Trump tap a serving officer now? The reason I suspect is that a retired officer would look at mess right and with no guarantee of a free hand would say "Thank you but no thank you". A serving officer really don't have a choice if POTUS says you're it. So he'll become the equivalent of Jodl and a convenient scapegoat if things go south. I feel sorry for him.
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Cabinet secretaries have no say on their choice of staff
Among the interesting tidbits: Quote:Among the complications is the White House’s heavy hand with
secretaries, according to several people familiar with the issue. The
White House has created a new position, called senior White House
adviser, atop agencies and in many cases installed top campaign aides in
those spots.
So they function like commissars then or is this a classic example of political patronage?
Well, that means the number 2 and 3 slots at major agencies might not be filled till the mid terms. Maybe. The other sub agency heads possibly even longer. Oh well.
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Maybe we'll be lucky enough that Trump will be so busy shooting his own foot in the search for absolute loyalty and ideological purity that he won't have the ability to do any serious damage to the country.
-- Bob
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As we come to the end of this thread...
02-23-2017, 04:35 AM
... I've decided that it's going to be the last "Trump News". I never anticipated that we'd go as far as three iterations, plus this one filled up in less than 3 months. If I let it go on to more numbered sequel threads, "Trump News" may well be the only title visible in here by the midterm elections.
I think from this point on, it would be better if we just started a separate thread for each boneheaded or outrageous thing done by Trump or his administration. That way the contents of the board will be a bit less monolithic, individual news items will be a bit easier to find, and the conservative members of the forums will be able to pick and choose the individual issues they'd like to debate or defend without having to enter an all-encompassing Trump fear-and-hatred zone to do so.
Thanks for contributing here, and please feel free to start a thread for any new issue or event that inspires you to.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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