Former President Trump Thread

It's so simple trump is just an evil American Jar Jar Binks!
My wife and I are re-watching The Office, and I think Trump has a lot of similar characteristics of Michael Scott. Incompetent at best, petulant asshole at his worst. I don't like this comparison b/c I really like The Office, but I can't help thinking about it whilst watching.
 
My wife and I are re-watching The Office, and I think Trump has a lot of similar characteristics of Michael Scott. Incompetent at best, petulant asshole at his worst. I don't like this comparison b/c I really like The Office, but I can't help thinking about it whilst watching.
No, Michael Scott was a fantastic salesman who was promoted beyond his competence and was a terrible manager who didn't know it and couldn't begin to fix it.

Trump is a mean, petty tyrant with absolutely no concern for others and no consistency. He's a fraud and at best a petulant asshole. Incompetent would be several steps up.
 
So, Trump appoints a general as WH Chief of Staff and the Republican party talks about abandoning all of the positions and letting the WH take an "independent" stance. I'm not sure that's really the best course of action for the country... unless we're trying to make the point that the office of President is an antiquated one and needs to be removed?
 
A quote from Reddit about McCain's actions:

I'm not sure if it's really being appreciated just how comprehensively the Republicans were just fucked over.
See, the Republicans have been trying to pass these godawful healthcare bills through a process called budget reconciliation, which, among other things, protects the bill from being filibustered in the Senate and only requires a simple majority of 50 votes (rather than 60, which the Republicans don't have).
The thing is, the Senate can only consider one budget reconciliation bill per topic per year. Of course, if the bill dies in committee and never comes to an official vote, it doesn't count- which is why they've been able to keep hammering away at the issue.
This bill, though, was allowed to come to the Senate floor, because the Republicans thought they'd secured the votes. Collins, Murkowski and the Democrats would vote no, everyone else would vote yes, and Pence would break the tie. And then McCain completely fucked them. And it was almost certainly a calculated move; he voted to allow the bill to come to the floor. Had McCain allowed it to die in committee, McConnell could have come back with yet another repeal bill; but he let it come to a vote, and now they can't consider another budget reconciliation bill for the rest of the fiscal year. The Senate needs 60 votes to pass any kind of healthcare reform now.
So now they're caught between a rock and a hard place. Either they concede defeat on the issue and try again later (causing a big, unpopular stink that could damage elections if they try it before the midterms, or risking losing the slim majority they already have if they wait) or they actually sit down with the democrats like adults and write a halfway decent healthcare bill.
This is amazing.
Now, I don't know that all this is true as I don't have anything beyond the palest, barest minimum about how you guys govern yourselves down south, but if it is, shit, I take back my shit talk on McCain this week. He did a pretty good thing and made the Republicans look like idiots.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
I don't know if that whole thing about only getting one budget reconciliation vote is true or not, but it doesn't pass the smell test to me, and even if it is true it's the sort of Senate Rule and not a law that can be changed if they feel like it.
 
Looked up budget reconciliation, here's what seems to be the relevant bit:

"Under Senate interpretations of the Congressional Budget Act, the Senate can consider the three basic subjects of reconciliation — spending, revenues, and debt limit — in a single bill or multiple bills, but it can consider each of these three in only one bill per year (unless Congress passes a second budget resolution). Consequently, in the Senate there can be a maximum of three reconciliation bills in a year, one for each of the basic subjects of reconciliation. "
 

Zappit

Staff member
A quote from Reddit about McCain's actions:
Now, I don't know that all this is true as I don't have anything beyond the palest, barest minimum about how you guys govern yourselves down south, but if it is, shit, I take back my shit talk on McCain this week. He did a pretty good thing and made the Republicans look like idiot.
Yeah, I was stunned that McCain voted to advance it to a vote, because it seemed it would pass and that he would vote for it. It looked so hypocritical after that speech on working together.

But that idea makes much more sense. He moved to completely shut down the Republican scheme and FORCE bipartisanship. That's pretty damn admirable.
 
New rule for me. Never go to Twitter after a big political event. I saw so many memes of McCain being a traitor and devil with no loyalty or morals that I want to strangle someone.
 
Honest question; we all joked when George H. W. Bush had Quayle as his vice president, he didn't need the secret service. Nobody in the world wanted Quayle as President, so George was safe from all would be assassins.

Now that Pence is the lone Republican left in the White House, what steps could trump take to replace him with a poisonous version, so that Congress would never impeach?
 
The fact people can be so dominantly bi-partisan in the US is outstanding inane to me.

Republicans know Trump is horrible but won't concede because it'll mean "the left" is winning. I literally face palmed after googling what the fuck is the left and the right means.
 
The Democrats aren't wasting time making themselves more appealing to non-Republicans:

Democrats propose new competition laws:
"Right now our antitrust laws are designed to allow huge corporations to merge, padding the pockets of investors but sending costs skyrocketing for everything from cable bills and airline tickets to food and health care [...] We are going to fight to allow regulators to break up big companies if they’re hurting consumers and to make it harder for companies to merge if it reduces competition."
The plan for "cracking down on corporate monopolies" lists five industries that Democrats say are in particular need of change, specifically airlines, cable and telecom, the beer industry, food, and eyeglasses. The Democrats' plan for lowering the cost of prescription drugs is detailed in a separate document.
Sooo...AA/United, Comcast/Charter, AB Inbev, Monsanto, and Luxottica?

--Patrick
 
I call bullshit. You can't throw a rock in Congress without hitting someone who has taken money from one, if not all, of those companies. Not gonna happen.
Right, but they can appear otherwise by trying this. The Democrats are taking a page from the Obama era Republican playbook, putting forward legislation they know won't pass so they can blame the other side for stopping it even if really they wouldn't want it to pass anyway.
 
Right, but they can appear otherwise by trying this. The Democrats are taking a page from the Obama era Republican playbook, putting forward legislation they know won't pass so they can blame the other side for stopping it even if really they wouldn't want it to pass anyway.
Yes, but this can bite them in ass later if they don't actively pursue these legislative efforts when they do, eventually, regain control of Congress.
 
Yes, but this can bite them in ass later if they don't actively pursue these legislative efforts when they do, eventually, regain control of Congress.
Sure, but at least the Dems have the advantage that the Reps will never implement a law they came up with, and then can't pass anything because the only workable option that didn't screw their voters over badly enough for them to motive notice was already in place, and they've been calling it horrible for 8 years.



EDIT: where the fuck did i get motive from notice?
 
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That didn't last long...


Bye bye, "The Mooch!"
Reports are saying it was Kelly's first decision as Chief of Staff. Apparently "The Mooch" running his mouth about reporting directly to the President and not to the CoS didn't sit well with Kelly.

Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.
 
In all seriousness, if Kelly can get this circus to have a little discipline they might actually accomplish something.

That something will probably still be horrible, but it'll be something.
 

Dave

Staff member
I went on vacation on the 21st and came back late last night. I was in a news vacuum that whole time. I had to look up who this guy was because I have no idea.
 
I went on vacation on the 21st and came back late last night. I was in a news vacuum that whole time. I had to look up who this guy was because I have no idea.
If you've watched Futurama, you basically know the story already.

Speaking of vacation, I bet Last Week Tonight is wishing they scheduled their vacation for another time.
 
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