Trump

[Cassandra LeMay]

I just had a disturbing flashback to the 'field promotions' in the Star Wars original trilogy.

I was thinking more about the Saturday Night Massacre. If a president has done something like this in the civilian administration before, why not in his role as commander in chief?

[Oniya]

Well, that worked out so well for Nixon.

[Missy]

I just had a disturbing flashback to the 'field promotions' in the Star Wars original trilogy.

Are you sure that was star wars???

[HannibalBarca]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aV2DLkDPwM8

Vader isn't big on long employee reviews.

[Oniya]

*nods*  The bit where he gacks someone during a video-call, then turns to the next guy and addresses him by the dead guy's rank.

[Fury Aphrodisia]

[Deamonbane]

Firefly!

[Missy]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aV2DLkDPwM8

Vader isn't big on long employee reviews.

Oh! Duh. I always forget the Navy.

[Various]

So the Exalted Psychopath went on a Twitter tantrum when he whined about Sen. Jeff Flake and yelled that he is a no vote on the Randian wet dream of a tax bill the GOP is ramming through Congress.

Sen. Jeff Flake(y), who is unelectable in the Great State of Arizona (quit race, anemic polls) was caught (purposely) on 'mike' saying bad things about your favorite President. He'll be a NO on tax cuts because his political career anyway is 'toast.' - The Imperial Asshole Nov 19, 2017

He was declared undecided on the bill until you decided to be a human colonoscopy. Now he's probably a no. Keep in mind their floor is 52 (as no Democrat will vote for it except maaaybe Sen. Manchin) and they already lost one officially (Sen. Johnson). He may have just bought a tie-breaker vote by Pence assuming Sen. Collins or Sen. McCain don't also bolt. Great brain indeed.

[Various]

Ceiling rather.

[MiraMirror]

But if it's a tie-breaker, won't Pence just vote yes on it, like he did for that one thing before?  ...Or two?

[Trigon]

But if it's a tie-breaker, won't Pence just vote yes on it, like he did for that one thing before?  ...Or two?

Five times so far: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tie-breaking_votes_cast_by_vice_presidents_of_the_United_States

All within this year too!

[MiraMirror]

Lovely [/s]  So we need more people to vote against, because a tie-breaker is obviously in Trump's favor. :/

[gaggedLouise]

From the CBS article Oniya linked:Really? Wouldn't he just say "you are fired" and find someone else to follow his orders

The expression "you are fired" for not agreeing to fire a nuclear missile - seems...weirdly appropriate. :P

[Various]

But if it's a tie-breaker, won't Pence just vote yes on it, like he did for that one thing before?  ...Or two?

Pence (or any Veep) in theory could vote against the President's interest. In practice, I don't think that's every happened, but it's a very real possibility back when had the winner and loser become President and Vice President respectively.*

I use it as a bad thing (from normal perspective), because of the margin of error involved. Pence having five tie-breakers in a year (including for a cabinet position nomination, the first time ever) speaks to two things. First, to the fact that the Senate is very, very close (52-48 when the independents are counted as Democrats for caucus purposes). Second, one of the areas Trump is absolutely and utterly incompetent in is basic statecraft/math. He does this shit constantly where he'll insult a senator over Twitter (as with Flake last night) right before a crucial vote because of some perceived slight.

*Its dysfunctional nature is why we got rid of it. Could you imagine the insanity of President Trump and Vice President Clinton?

As for Oniya's thing, what that general is talking about is international military law. The 'just doing orders' defense against war crimes does not work as the trial at Nuremberg showed. Committing a war crime is the type of order any soldier is duty bound to refuse.

[Valerian]

So the Exalted Psychopath went on a Twitter tantrum when he whined about Sen. Jeff Flake and yelled that he is a no vote on the Randian wet dream of a tax bill the GOP is ramming through Congress.

He was declared undecided on the bill until you decided to be a human colonoscopy. Now he's probably a no. Keep in mind their floor is 52 (as no Democrat will vote for it except maaaybe Sen. Manchin) and they already lost one officially (Sen. Johnson). He may have just bought a tie-breaker vote by Pence assuming Sen. Collins or Sen. McCain don't also bolt. Great brain indeed.

I wouldn't count on Johnson staying as a no vote.  After his threats to vote no on one of the many variations of the health care "reform" bill he got a lot of attention which I think flattered his ego a great deal (and got him to switch to a yes vote with very little difficulty).  He's probably hoping for the same thing to happen here, with a slight tweak thrown into the tax reform bill to make him seem victorious.

[Oniya]

So the Exalted Psychopath went on a Twitter tantrum when he whined about Sen. Jeff Flake and yelled that he is a no vote on the Randian wet dream of a tax bill the GOP is ramming through Congress.

So - what did Flake say about Grover Cleveland?  I always liked him because he managed to get elected to non-consecutive terms.

What - the tweet said 'your favorite president'.  That puts 45 right out of the running.

[Valerian]

See, and my favorite has always been James Buchanan because he's a relative of mine (and even more interestingly, the first openly gay president).  45 needs to learn more precision with his language.  ::)

[TheGlyphstone]

So - what did Flake say about Grover Cleveland?  I always liked him because he managed to get elected to non-consecutive terms.

What - the tweet said 'your favorite president'.  That puts 45 right out of the running.

I always liked Grover Cleveland for being the nemesis of a time traveling mad scientist.

[Various]

So - what did Flake say about Grover Cleveland?  I always liked him because he managed to get elected to non-consecutive terms.

What - the tweet said 'your favorite president'.  That puts 45 right out of the running.

Consider James K. Polk. Polk was a man who at the end of his first term looked around, then looked at his to-do list and said, "Nailed it! I'm going home!".

[Oniya]

*briefly considers trying to get #MyFavoritePresident trending...*

[Fury Aphrodisia]

#MyFavouritePresident

[gaggedLouise]

*briefly considers trying to get #MyFavoritePresident trending...*

(Don't watch this one if your eyes are very sensitive to quick flash photography) ;)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIdzsrt4A0Y

[TheGlyphstone]

#MyFavoritePresident

"I was elected to Lead, not to Read!"

[Trigon]

Well, according to this, there is a voter who would trust Trump more than he would trust Jesus: https://www.mediaite.com/tv/trump-voter-on-cnn-if-jesus-christ-told-me-trump-is-with-russia-i-would-check-with-potus/