Trump

[Various]

Trump is the living embodiment of the Dunning–Kruger effect, basically that the incompetent tend to not grasp how little they actually know because they don't have enough skill in (subject X) to recognize the depth of their ignorance.

[Various]

So Trump called Tim Cook "Tim Apple" then lied about it, claiming he whispered the word Cook.

Reporter Don Lemon twitted this about it:
When you lie about anything, you'll lie about everything and there is apparently nothing that is too small or too insignificant for this President to lie about.

[gaggedLouise]

Trump's just-proposed regular budget asks for around eight billion bucks allocated to fund the Wall - so he seems to have discovered that six billion wasn't enough. Surprise?!

Also, he's not going to get anything close to that from Congress - so is he really going to push the Gov't Shutdown button *again*? 

[Muddy Waters]

Trump's just-proposed regular budget asks for around eight billion bucks allocated to fund the Wall - so he seems to have discovered that six billion wasn't enough. Surprise?!

Also, he's not going to get anything close to that from Congress - so is he really going to push the Gov't Shutdown button *again*? 

Most definitely.   He doesn't understand the word No.   

[Various]

He certainly told Billy Bush that in no uncertain terms.

[Various]

Irony: Apparently Mexican civilians are tearing up Trump's border fence for the materials.
Article here.

They're taking the razor wire for its home security utility. The group was arrested by Mexican authorities.

[gaggedLouise]

Irony: Apparently Mexican civilians are tearing up Trump's border fence for the materials.
Article here.

They're taking the razor wire for its home security utility. The group was arrested by Mexican authorities.

Bwahaha!! MEXICAN CRIMINALS!! :d

[Norwegian One]

The sweet, delicious irony of it almost made me cry laughing at work today. Trump builds a wall to protect 'Murica against Mexican criminals, and the Mexicans steal it 

[Sara Nilsson]

“I gave him the kind of funeral he wanted, which as president I had to approve,” Trump said inaccurately, an apparent reference to allowing the use of military transport to carry McCain’s body to Washington. “I don’t care about this, I didn’t get a thank-you, that’s okay. We sent him on the way. But I wasn’t a fan of John McCain.”

He added, “I have to be honest, I never liked him much. Hasn’t been for me. I’ve really, probably, never will.”

From the washington post.

Now.. eh.. Trump didn't have anything to do with that. They didn't need his permission (https://wtop.com/local/2019/03/national-cathedral-disputes-trumps-claim-that-he-approved-sen-john-mccains-funeral/)

I think it is telling that Trump is STILL attacking McCain. And oh you know. lying through his disgusting teeth about the whole thing.

[Sara Nilsson]

Also holy fuck.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/22/politics/mike-pompeo-donald-trump-israel-golan-heights/index.html?no-st=1553278077

In an interview in Jerusalem, the Christian Broadcast Network's Chris Mitchell asked Pompeo, "could it be that President Trump right now has been sort of raised for such a time as this, just like Queen Esther, to help save the Jewish people from the Iranian menace?" Esther is the main heroine of the Jewish holiday of Purim, which was celebrated this week.
"As a Christian, I certainly believe that's possible," Pompeo said.
Pompeo added that he is "confident that the Lord is at work here" when he sees the "remarkable history of the faith in this place and the work that our administration's done to make sure that this democracy in the Middle East, that this Jewish state, remains."

I am.. at a loss for words.

[gaggedLouise]

From the washington post.

Now.. eh.. Trump didn't have anything to do with that. They didn't need his permission (https://wtop.com/local/2019/03/national-cathedral-disputes-trumps-claim-that-he-approved-sen-john-mccains-funeral/)

I think it is telling that Trump is STILL attacking McCain. And oh you know. lying through his disgusting teeth about the whole thing.

Precisely. His "services" to the funeral of McCain seem to have been limited to permitting for the casket of the senator to be brought on board a military airplane from Arizona to washington DC. Wow!

And I strongly suspect Trump only granted this after some of his advisors had impressed on him that people would frown if he tried to refuse McCain this honour.

[gaggedLouise]

Mueller has handed over his report to the DOJ. Congress will get a briefing on the contents and conclusions within a few days, and it's likely going to be very hard for Trump and his cronies to try to stonewall the report and make sure it is kept top secret (also, he has said a couple of times that he has no such intentions, but you know Trump...) :)

[MasterMischief]

Mueller has handed over his report to the DOJ. Congress will get a briefing on the contents and conclusions within a few days, and it's likely going to be very hard for Trump and his cronies to try to stonewall the report and make sure it is kept top secret (also, he has said a couple of times that he has no such intentions, but you know Trump...) :)

Unfortunately, I think it will be very easy for the DOJ to keep the findings of the report secret.  The only part we will ever see is if it concluded there was no collusion with the Russians.

[Teo Torriatte]

My hope is that there is something really damning in the report AND that we and congress somehow get to see it.

My fear is that there isn't anything all that damning because Meuller farmed out most of the actual crimes to other prosecutors, and that Trump and the republiCAN'Ts will claim victory and the public will move on.

It is very likely that the Trump shitshow will go on unimpeded until at least the end of 2020, and will only end at that point if the Democratic party can put up a candidate who can actually beat Trump.

[Markus]

... at that point if the Democratic party can put up a candidate who can actually beat Trump.

based on early trends who precisely might that be? If his current approval rating remains as is, it may be more a vote against Trump, rather than a vote for the said candidate, imo.

[Deamonbane]

You'd think an appointed Trump yes-man like Barr would be spreading the news about his client's innocence as far and as wide as possible. What's with the delay?

[Tamhansen]

You'd think an appointed Trump yes-man like Barr would be spreading the news about his client's innocence as far and as wide as possible. What's with the delay?

Doing it too quickly will raise suspicion of tampering. If the investigation found no proof, it's best to wait until everything is prepped to release the files. If it did find proof, they need time to arm against it. Either way, moving to quickly is bad.

[Teo Torriatte]

Summary of the Mueller report- no conspiracy and no coordination. The evidence of obstruction is inconclusive, although Barr and Rosenstein ruled against obstruction.

I think this is a win for Trump. I also think that congressional Democrats need to tread very carefully now, lest they be perceived as overreaching on this matter, while Trump yells "no collusion, no obstruction" over and over again.

James Comey may very well have given us the first four years of Trump, and now it looks like Mueller, Barr and Rosenstein may have just given us another four. I think I'm going to be sick.

[TheGlyphstone]

We'll see how the polls fluctuate next week. It's not like the results would affect Democratic or Republican voters so much as a percentage point, based on the historical trend that's persisted through the last three years. The only wild-card variable is the independent voting block, whose as a whole are not terribly impressed with Trump (averaging mid-30's approval consistently).

Either way, I think lumping Mueller in with Barr and Rosenstein for the 'blame', so to speak, isn't fair to the man. He's played this with a practically inhuman degree of professionalism through the whole ordeal - if there had been collusion or coordination, he would have found it, and he wouldn't have buried it. But similarly, he wouldn't have invented or exaggerated collusion that hadn't existed. B+R definitely fell in behind their patron, but Mueller just did his job.

[Teo Torriatte]

It took about an hour for Trump to find his way to a microphone and start up with the "no collusion, no obstruction" mantra. But oh no, he couldn't just stop there, he is now calling for someone to investigate the investigators. This man is truly heinous.

WE ARE NOT TRUMP.
#notmypresident

[Suiko]

Just to play devils advocate, because discourse is interesting: how could Trump have possibly won coming out of this? Either he was cleared, in which case 'how dare you feel pleased/gloat', or he was guilty, in which case 'I knew it! Fuck you!'

He's been found innocent of collusion and obstruction, and people are berating him for being pleased about that. Wouldn't anyone be happy and maybe even gloat a bit to all the people who screamed how you were guilty? A bit of vindication is due, surely?

It seems like because he's so polorising, no matter what evidence is given, his opponents and people who don't like him will always hate him.

[Teo Torriatte]

Just to play devils advocate, because discourse is interesting: how could Trump have possibly won coming out of this? Either he was cleared, in which case 'how dare you feel pleased/gloat', or he was guilty, in which case 'I knew it! Fuck you!'

He's been found innocent of collusion and obstruction, and people are berating him for being pleased about that. Wouldn't anyone be happy and maybe even gloat a bit to all the people who screamed how you were guilty? A bit of vindication is due, surely?

It seems like because he's so polorising, no matter what evidence is given, his opponents and people who don't like him will always hate him.

There are plenty of other reasons to hate Trump, but I'll leave those aside for now and address the current moment.

Sure we expected him to gloat, but what really disgusts me is that he not only gloated, but he called on an investigation into the ones that were investigating him. As in "how dare you even look into my incredibly suspicious behavior?" That is beyond the pale and not presidential in the slightest.

[Suiko]

Okay, I can understand that looking a bit childish, but is he not entitled to ask for an exploration into the people who wanted to find him guilty?

Even aside from everything else, I think he honestly should be allowed to be a bit pissed off. Everyone decided his guilt before the investigation was completed, and now he can give them the proverbial middle finger.

[Iniquitous]

Just to play devils advocate, because discourse is interesting: how could Trump have possibly won coming out of this? Either he was cleared, in which case 'how dare you feel pleased/gloat', or he was guilty, in which case 'I knew it! Fuck you!'

He's been found innocent of collusion and obstruction, and people are berating him for being pleased about that. Wouldn't anyone be happy and maybe even gloat a bit to all the people who screamed how you were guilty? A bit of vindication is due, surely?

It seems like because he's so polorising, no matter what evidence is given, his opponents and people who don't like him will always hate him.

He was not cleared of obstruction.  Mueller purposefully did not say he did not obstruct. It was 45's dick sucker that ruled no obstruction - which was expected no matter what the report said.  There are still investigations going, so, I will sit back and wait.

[Teo Torriatte]

Okay, I can understand that looking a bit childish, but is he not entitled to ask for an exploration into the people who wanted to find him guilty?

Even aside from everything else, I think he honestly should be allowed to be a bit pissed off. Everyone decided his guilt before the investigation was completed, and now he can give them the proverbial middle finger.

No, asking for an exploration into the people investigating him is not ok. He gave people plenty of reason to be suspicious, and the investigators were doing their jobs in an attempt to figure out if he was working with the Russians or just complicit in accepting their help to win the election. They were just doing their jobs and did nothing wrong. And "giving them the proverbial middle finger"? Is that how a President of the United States is expected to act? Pathetic. (Not you, but him)