Trump and his cabinet/buffoonery- Get your bunkers ready!

[TradeTheBeal!]

1 hour ago, Bang said:

I'd rather they just sent me a bill now and let me work up a payment / indentured servitude plan for what this presidency is going to cost me.

 

~Bang

 

It's not that simple, Bang.  You'll actually be conscripted for Operation Persian Freedom in 2022.  Best bet is to spend some time working on your Farsi...

[visionary]

 

[visionary]

 

[Larry]

Re: Tillerson. 

 

Part of me wants to object, on the basis that we don't want our FP to be driven by corporate interests. 

 

But then, it occurs to me that negotiating trade is a PART of the SecState job. Maybe my objection is premature. 

[tshile]

4 hours ago, visionary said:

Some interesting stuff here.

 

 

 

 Thought from the start, and still think, it was super weird Trump even put Priebus on his staff in any capacity...

[visionary]

 

Quote

 

President-elect Donald Trump is receiving an average of one presidential intelligence briefing a week, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter, far fewer than most of his recent predecessors.

 

Although they are not required to, presidents-elect have in the past generally welcomed the opportunity to receive the President's Daily Brief (PDB), the most highly classified and closely held document in the government, on a regular basis.

 

It was not immediately clear why Trump has decided not to receive the intelligence briefings available to President Barack Obama more frequently, or whether that has made any difference in his presidential preparations. Trump's spokespeople did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

 

Trump has asked for at least one briefing, and possibly more, from intelligence agencies on specific subjects, one of the officials said. The source declined to identify what subjects interested the president-elect, but said that so far they have not included Russia or France.

 

Indiana Governor Mike Pence, Trump's vice president-elect, has been receiving his own PDB at least six days a week, the sources familiar with the matter said.

 

Former Central Intelligence Agency briefer David Priess, the author of a book about PDBs, said that traditionally, Trump and Pence's predecessors sat for "daily or near-daily intelligence briefings" between their elections and their inaugurations.

 

 

 

 

 

I'm not exactly shedding tears for these folks.   

Quote

Many of them say they’ve heard nothing about their career prospects, and during furtive huddles, have been commiserating with each other about how they can’t seem to get their calls to top Trump transition brass returned. Some are convinced that party establishment figures who’ve taken the reins of the transition are giving them short shrift.

 

Compounding their frustration is that a number of top posts are going to mainstream party figures who previously actively opposed Trump. The president-elect is seriously considering tapping Mitt Romney, a onetime leader of the Never-Trump movement, to be secretary of state. He has already made Todd Ricketts, whose family funded an anti-Trump super PAC during the primaries, deputy commerce secretary. And on Thursday, Trump met with former Navy admiral James Stavridis, who had been vetted by Hillary Clinton as a possible vice presidential choice but now may end up in Trump’s administration.

 

The concerns have become so intense that Karen Giorno, a Trump aide who oversaw his successful Florida campaign during the Republican primaries, recently had a telephone conversation with the president-elect in which she expressed concern that Trump loyalists wouldn’t be getting White House roles. During the call, which was described by three sources, Giorino also said she was alarmed that his establishment-minded choice for White House chief of staff, outgoing Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, wouldn’t support the early staffers who worked for him. (Neither Giorno nor a Trump spokesperson would comment.)

 

Quote

Transition officials say it’s far too early for anyone to lose hope. At this juncture, the president-elect has announced only a few senior-ranking positions and has focused most of his time on filling high-level Cabinet posts. But the angst provides a window into the early machinations of a divided administration, one that was catapulted to victory by a ragtag group of conservative outsiders running against a party establishment but that now is being co-opted by that very establishment.

 

Roger Stone, a Republican strategist and longtime Trump friend, has given voice to the concerns. During a Wednesday appearance guest-hosting radio host Alex Jones’ show, Stone, said he visited Trump Tower this week and found “an armada of retreads from the old Republican Party, both the congressional wing of the party and the Romney-McCain-Bush burnouts who are trying to board this ship.”

 

“I saw people and heard about people whose names I haven’t heard in 25 to 30 years,” he added. “These are people who did nothing whatsoever to elect Donald Trump and they’re people who don’t share Donald Trump’s values. They disagree with him on trade, they disagree with him on monetary policy, they disagree with him on immigration. Yet, they seek glory and titles.”

 

I can't recall if I've heard of the Ricketts pick before or not.  

Also interesting to see that he met Stavridis today.  

I wasn't sure if he was still being considered for something.

[LadySkinsFan]

Corporate bottom lines, not what's best for humans or the country. Fascism.

[twa]

10 minutes ago, tshile said:

 Thought from the start, and still think, it was super weird Trump even put Priebus on his staff in any capacity...

 

his connections and loyalty are rather helpful to someone out of the politics biz.....if not him,who?

[Burgold]

Trump's pick for EPA chief is not only a climate denier, but is pro-pollution. He has sued numerous times to all for greater emissions and to try to overturn EPA rulings. Worse, he has done so trying to pass off energy lobbyists literature as his own writings. What's bad about this is not just that he will increase run off, roll back factory protections, and cause great environmental harm, but that he will do so as Republicans try to end health care reform. So, you will create a situation where many more people will be drinking Flint like water, birth defects will rise, cancer and other environmentally based conditions will rise, and yet many people's ability to access preventative care or any care will be cut off at the knees.

 

This post really is not hyperbolic. His history of suing to end environmental protections more than a hundred times makes him not only an ironic head of the Environmental Protection Agency, but will be disastrous as we combo it by weakening medicare, the ACA, etc.

[AsburySkinsFan]

This is turning into one giant joke.

 

So many people wanted this country run like a corporation...well now you get to see that corporations see the humam factor as single biggest place to cut.

 

Count on heavy deregulation, increased pollution, weakened labor, stalled wages and increased inflation.

 

Fools every one who voted for the orange troll.

 

Oh but the Turd in Chief is going to keep his position as Executive Producer of the Apprentice...so at least he'll have something to do with his time while not receiving security briefings.

 

What a joke...and don't even think of blaming me, I voted for the *****.

[TheGreatBuzz]

4 hours ago, LD0506 said:

I'd like to see us discuss something more practical, closer to home where we can actually find some middle ground and agreement.

 

What are YOU wearing to the apocalypse? I know I would be utterly mortified to show up and find that twa and I had the same outfit on, we need some coordination so we don't all clash and embarrass ourselves the way you just know Dallas fans will.

Camo.  Lots of camo.

 

I actually thought about starting some sort of Doomsday Prepper thread where we can talk about how to survive this.  We can share tips on canning and growing our own food.  Share places that have the best prices on ammo.  Teach each other how to collect rain water, etc.  Who knew the people on the left might one day need these skills.  I thought it was just crazy right wing freak shows 

[Larry]

2 hours ago, tshile said:

 Thought from the start, and still think, it was super weird Trump even put Priebus on his staff in any capacity...

 

Yeah, I really expected Trump to give the GOP a chubby finger, from the outset.  

 

I wonder if maybe somebody pointed out that cozying up to Priebus might get him a more compliant Congress.  (And if Trump was smart enough to actually take that advice.)  

[visionary]

 

 

 

 

 

 

[LadySkinsFan]

Notice how most of his appointments want to do away with the agencies they are supposed to lead? 

 

That's crazy.

[Larry]

4 minutes ago, LadySkinsFan said:

Notice how most of his appointments want to do away with the agencies they are supposed to lead? 

 

That's crazy.

 

Nope.  That's a parallel to W.  

 

[Burgold]

6 minutes ago, Larry said:

 

Nope.  That's a parallel to W.  

 

As she said... crazy. Unless you thought W's philosophy and practices are worth repeating.

[twa]

3 hours ago, Burgold said:

Trump's pick for EPA chief is not only a climate denier, but is pro-pollution. He has sued numerous times to all for greater emissions and to try to overturn EPA rulings.

 

Any state AG has sued the EPA repeatedly or is a slacking toady. 

[visionary]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[visionary]

 

 

 

 

 

Quote

The Republican National Committee may sit on Capitol Hill, but its fate is being decided in Manhattan, where the field of contenders to run it has narrowed to two leading candidates, Michigan GOP chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel and Nick Ayers, a Republican operative currently serving as an aide to Vice President-elect Mike Pence.

 

[Larry]

1 hour ago, twa said:

 

Any state AG has sued the EPA repeatedly or is a slacking toady. 

 

Or thinks he serves his citizens, rather than polluting industries. 

[twa]

37 minutes ago, Larry said:

 

Or thinks he serves his citizens, rather than polluting industries. 

 

Or is a **** to federal overreach and abuse of executive power.

[visionary]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Larry]

41 minutes ago, visionary said:

 

Part of me says that this might not be the fascistic (is that a word?) hand of suppression of dissent that it, at first, looks like.  

 

Apparently, there are a whole lot of temporary structures being set up and taken down, at those locations, for the inauguration.  It might be a perfectly legitimate reflection of that.  

 

(Although part of me wants to ask why they can't just leave the bleachers set up, the day after the inauguration, and let the protesters stand on them.  What, are they rented by the day, or something?)  

 

[Burgold]

8 hours ago, twa said:

 

Any state AG has sued the EPA repeatedly or is a slacking toady. 

State and Federal review under-enforcement is a bigger problem. Look at the negligence or worse that led to the water issues in Flint or West Virginia in recent years. Underfunding, understaffing, and pulling the teeth of protection agencies are a big deal. Do we really want our cities to look and smell like Beijing? 

[skinsmarydu]

And I was planning to be there for the march...damn.

Labor Sec nominee also made the Hardee's commercials (Paris Hilton/Kate Upton, etc.) because he said they "reflected the CEO's (his) personality". 

And when asked months ago what he thought of a Cabinet position, he replied that "Serving in Trump's cabinet would be the most fun you could have with your clothes on."

So there's that.