Donald Trump Presidency discussion Thread VI

amandstu wrote: »

Who flushes their toilets 10 or 15 times?

I have very poor pressure but I just wait for the cistern to fill and one flush does it.

Is this one of the President's nightmares we are listening to?

He is a germophobe by some accounts.

Seems like just more assault on the environment. Per Trump, low-water facilities are bad. So, Trump's ordered the EPA to look into the regulations around them, as plenty of States have lots of water, it falls from the sky as rain.

Yes, that's pretty much what he said. Glad he can prioritize.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/dec/06/trump-says-people-flush-the-toilet-10-times-and-seeks-solution

pixelburp wrote: »

There is a persistent running rumour that Trump is a big germaphobe, so perhaps an obsession with flushing a toilet could be part of that? Maybe HE flushes a dozen times, and of course projects onto everyone that they must be as ... Intense.

I hated using American (Illinois specifically) toilets, they always have really high water level in the bowl, with a very low pressure flush. Uhmm ... ...splashback was unavoidable *shudder*

Just how bizarre the POTUS's opinions on flush toilets is, well, newsworthy. That he spoke about it at length.... Really living in the universe of the weird these days.

How can even Trump supporters stand behind him now that he has refused to even take part in the investigation. Lets us remember that he has spent the past few weeks complaining that he was not allowed legal counsel. So he demanded it, got it, and now has refused to do what he said he wanted to do.

The toilet flushing is a distraction. Here is a man that many in American think it working for them, but spends inordinate amount of time and money and trying to ensure that both his taxes and not his phone calls are not made public.

The dissonance with people that had such a fit when they thought HC was hiding something in the emails but are completely fine with Trump using the courts system to block them seeing his stuff is staggering.

According to Don, his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani wants to take information he has uncovered in Ukraine to AG Barr and Congress. Departing to Florida on Saturday, Trump said Giuliani had not yet told him what information he has gathered, though the president said he's heard it was plentiful. “He's going to make a report, I think, to the attorney general and to Congress,” Trump told reporters outside the White House before he departed for Florida. “He says he has a lot of good information. I have not spoken to him about that information." He's one of the greatest crimefighters we have".

The idea of Rudy appearing before Congress to testify on alleged Ukraine corruption and facing awkward questions from inquisitive members there must be worrying for the sensible in the admin team, despite Don seeming not to be alarmed at the possibility.

CNN is running a story about the President using his personal cell phone to contact people against the advice of his staff, though Don denies the report, saying he hasn't used the phone for years. If it turned out Don had been using the phone, there must be time/date records of its use, along with mast triangulation records of where the phone was at the time.

Leroy42 wrote: »

The dissonance with people that had such a fit when they thought HC was hiding something in the emails but are completely fine with Trump using the courts system to block them seeing his stuff is staggering.

Because they equate anything negative as "Orange man bad" and must be a hatchet job, the "economy is booming" line then gets rolled out. I see our friend here hasn't been seen in a while with the AG report coming out that was supposed to blow our socks off and wake us up from living in the Matrix (paraphrasing) but in fact shows nothing of the sort, but guess what the Giuliani Ukraine report will be the big finisher, if not that then the next one...

everlast75 wrote: »

So the much anticipated report by the I.G. is out today.

Some info leaked seems to indicate that they found one low level FBI lawyer added one line to an email relating to the renewal of the Carter Page warrant.... and that's it?

All other conspiracy theories involving Mifsud being an undercover agent debunked.

Barr has already come out and put his spin on it (as is his want) and said that he disagrees with the finding that the investigation was launched properly.

Next question: will Michael E Horowitz be the next to go from the Admin? He's an Obama-era confirmed by senate appointee.

Isn't one of the committee's taking hearings today?

An important meeting is to take/taking place today between Presidents Zelensky and Putin ahead of, and separate to, the main Normandy meeting. If the meetings between the two regional leaders end with an armistice, it might not be good for Rudy's Trump Admin activities freedom in Ukraine as he could be surplus to Ukraine's requirements. I saw in today's NYT that Rudy is not being paid to act as a personal attorney to Don.

https://madridjournals.com/2019/12/05/ahead-of-normandy-four-talks-eu-and-sweden-support-ukraines-efforts-to-restore-peace-in-donbas-and-crimea/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/katyagorchinskaya/2019/12/05/what-is-the-normandy-summit-and-why-its-huge-for-ukraine-russia-and-europe/

everlast75 wrote: »

Barr has already come out and put his spin on it (as is his want) and said that he disagrees with the finding that the investigation was launched properly.

This is the investigation he championed, mentored directed and encouraged. And he still couldn't make it support his narrative!

So he goes the "my cousin vinny" route:

"Everything that guy said...... is bullsh1t"

Pro bono would still carry privilege i suspect.

greenfield21 wrote: »

https://www.wsj.com/articles/in-reversal-of-spring-crisis-border-arrests-drop-for-sixth-straight-month-11575912090?redirect=amp#click=https://t.co/Sz11EZqBtv

Less children in cages and fewer dangerous crossings. Surely it's very hard for anybody in opposition to turn the argument the other way on this now. A bit like the trade war with china were the US has the upper hand and could potentially make a lot of long term positive changes for the country.

There's lots of things you could improve if you're willing to commit crimes against humanity.

If they sent the army in to just start indescriminately shooting non-whites in areas prone to gang violence if they set foot outside their door, I'm quite sure they'd reduce incidences of gang violence.

The likes of the bill of rights that prohibit these kinds of behaviours aren't there to come up with better results, but prevent the sort of facist attacks on human rights that the far right are only too happy to engage in if given half a chance.

greenfield21 wrote: »

https://www.wsj.com/articles/in-reversal-of-spring-crisis-border-arrests-drop-for-sixth-straight-month-11575912090?redirect=amp#click=https://t.co/Sz11EZqBtv

Less children in cages and fewer dangerous crossings. Surely it's very hard for anybody in opposition to turn the argument the other way on this now. A bit like the trade war with china were the US has the upper hand and could potentially make a lot of long term positive changes for the country.

I would have though the 0 children separated from their families was the goal.

In any case I am confused. There was an "invasion". Did all the caravans just pack up and go home?

I am not sure what benefits to a trade war there are here either. Crippling farmers to the point where they need social aid to keep going?

Igotadose wrote: »

Nothing resolved at the meeting. These things always take huge time. https://www.politico.eu/article/normandy-talks-land-in-paris-but-fail-to-deliver-peace-in-ukraine/

Ta for the Politico link, good read. Feck it, and I was all agog with RTE's report on the meeting. I guess the Politico line [It was hard not to gain momentum after a long standstill] says it all, after Merkel pronounced herself satisfied. "There is still a lot of work to be done," she said. "But I feel there is goodwill to resolve the difficult issues ... I'm satisfied with the meeting." She added: "We regained momentum today."

Re the investigation into the FBI investigation, I see the IG thinks the FBI were not discerning enough when it came to classifying Mr Steele's information and the sub-sources information he used to base his "dossier" on, but nothing more than that for now until more of the IG's conclusions become public, reviewed by the AG of course. MSN not weeping in reporting that Ivanka was a friend of Steele for over 7 years while he was working on the dossier and it's linking Russia with the hacking etc. I'd like to know when Steele began working alongside the FBI before distrust began about what was in the dossier.

Maybe a good source for US military could post on whether the supply of modern infantry anti-armour weapons are coming from US factories or from existing stocks in US forward-based armouries in Europe. It'd be handy to get the weapons ASAP instead of by trans-Atlantic supply and telling on any plans or use of invasive armour backing up incursions into Ukraine. There doesn't seem to be any anti-war movements in Moscow, seems what was there is dormant.

I'd wager more charges when some of the court cases are resolved, hopefully early in the new year

pixelburp wrote: »

So that's it, the trigger has been pulled; it's all playing for keeps now, with the next stop being the Senate, correct? Or is there a conceivable / realistic situation where it mightn't even get that far? Honestly need to catch up on the process...

I think the next step is a vote in the House on these Articles, although someone please correct me if I'm wrong on that.