Politics Trump - What has he done now???

Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ),

View: https://twitter.com/RubenGallego/status/1170714650893332480

 

I wonder if Mueller talked to him or saw the intel that was provided? Maybe that makes up some of the redacted parts.

I wonder if Congress will be able to subpoena him now that the role he played has been exposed.

I do wonder what Obama said to Trump in those one-on-one meetings where I be he shared this intel that shows what happened from Putin's point of view.

 

View: https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1172853679642333185


Good thing he reminded us with this tweet this morning that he is a "very stable genius" or I might have forgotten ... or maybe he is just reminding himself.

 

The three Republicans who are challenging Trump wrote this joint Washington Post Op-Ed after the several states canceled their Republican primary.

We are Trump’s Republican challengers. Canceling GOP primaries is a critical mistake.

The three of us are running for the Republican nomination for president in a race that will inevitably highlight differences among us on matters of policy, style and background. But we are brought together not by what divides us but by what unites us: a shared conviction that the United States needs a strong center-right party guided by basic values that are rooted in the best of the American spirit.

A president always defines his or her party, and today the Republican Party has taken a wrong turn, led by a serial self-promoter who has abandoned the bedrock principles of the GOP. In the Trump era, personal responsibility, fiscal sanity and rule of law have been overtaken by a preference for alienating our allies while embracing terrorists and dictators, attacking the free press and pitting everyday Americans against one another.

No surprise, then, that the latest disgrace, courtesy of Team Trump, is an effort to eliminate any threats to the president’s political power in 2020. Republicans have long held primaries and caucuses to bring out the best our party has to offer. Our political system assumes an incumbent president will make his case in front of voters to prove that he or she deserves to be nominated for a second term. But now, the Republican parties of four states — Arizona, Kansas, Nevada and South Carolina — have canceled their nominating contests. By this design, the incumbent will be crowned winner of these states’ primary delegates. There is little confusion about who has been pushing for this outcome.... (more)
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The acting director of national intelligence has refused to provide information to Congress as required by law on what has been described as a "troubling "whistleblower complaint of "urgent concern" within the US intelligence community.

This may explain why...

Trump’s communications with foreign leader are part of whistleblower complaint that spurred standoff between spy chief and Congress, former officials say

The whistleblower complaint that has triggered a tense showdown between the U.S. intelligence community and Congress involves President Trump’s communications with a foreign leader, according to two former U.S. officials familiar with the matter.

Trump’s interaction with the foreign leader included a “promise” that was regarded as so troubling that it prompted an official in the U.S. intelligence community to file a formal whistleblower complaint with the inspector general for the intelligence community, said the officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

It was not immediately clear which foreign leader Trump was speaking with or what he pledged to deliver, but his direct involvement in the matter has not been previously disclosed. It raises new questions about the president’s handling of sensitive information and may further strain his relationship with U.S. spy agencies. One former official said the communication was a phone call.

The White House did not respond to requests for comment. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence and a lawyer representing the whistleblower declined to comment.

Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson determined that the complaint was credible and troubling enough to be considered a matter of “urgent concern,” a legal threshold that requires notification of congressional oversight committees.

But acting director of national intelligence Joseph Maguire has refused to share details about Trump’s alleged transgression with lawmakers, touching off a legal and political dispute that has spilled into public and prompted speculation that the spy chief is improperly protecting the president.

The dispute is expected to escalate Thursday when Atkinson is scheduled to appear before the House Intelligence Committee in a classified session closed to the public. The hearing is the latest move by committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) to compel U.S. intelligence officials to disclose the full details of the whistleblower complaint to Congress...(more)​

It certainly makes you wonder what kind of outrageous promise Trump may have made to which one of his authoritarian "buddies" (most likely Putin?) that may have risen to the level that the whistleblower AND the Intelligence IG both have serious concerns about Trump as a security risk.

 

The media doesn't know how to do it's job and is helping Trump with the way they are handling this story.

1st, most Republicans would still vote for Trump, even if he made a deal with Putin or Zelensky (Ukrainian president). They could care less about the skirmish over there, the Democrats winning next year are the people that will affect their lives. Either by taking their guns, making abortion easier to get, taxing the rich, and regulating companies. Cheating and finding out whatever dirt they can find is an appropriate tactic to use. I'm kind of surprised they just didn't make up some documents that they needed.

2nd, the bombshell news doesn't have the same impact if it has trickled out and you only learn bits and pieces. Now, I don't know why the congress is making public the meetings and facts around who gets notified and who is trying to block it.

 

View: https://twitter.com/MittRomney/status/1175840899135352832


If a few more Senate Republicans come out publicly expressing the same concern, this won't go away.

 

Mitt really does not like 45, does he?

 

Romney is not alone. Nearly 7 out of 10 Americans dont like Trump personally.

NBC/WSJ poll: A record share of voters dislike Trump personally, but Democrats face challenges of their own

... A combined 69 percent of registered voters say they don’t like Trump personally, regardless of their feelings about his policy agenda. A record 50 percent say they dislike him personally and dislike his policies, while another 19 percent say that they dislike him but approve of his policies.

Just 29 percent say they like Trump personally, with 25 percent saying they also approve of his policy agenda and 4 percent saying they disapprove.

On this measure, the high degree of personal dislike for Trump differentiates him from his five most recent predecessors. Majorities of voters said they personally liked Obama, Clinton, George W. Bush, George H.W. Bush, and Ronald Reagan, even though they might disagree vigorously with their political agenda...
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It is amazing that those policy numbers haven't moved much during the last 3 years. I know that they might be shifting in 12-30 year olds, but there didn't seem to be a big effort to reach out to young people and explain the history of the issues, what hasn't worked, and why there is a need for change except for the past year or two now. Parkland and Sandy Hook has shaped their outlook on guns, the climate marches are an easy and safe issue to be an activist on, on the right the pro-life religious movement is still strong in a lot of the country (and the women's rights groups are not as effective as they should be).

 

Yup.

Turnout, turnout, turnout.

And, in electoral terms, it is worth noting that the 2016 election turned on three states - Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin - Democratic states that Trump won by a combined 75,000 (1% or less in each of those states) largely because of failures of Hillary in those states to hold Obama voters.

Assuming no other states from 2016 flip from Democrat to Trump in 2020, he would need to win 2 out of those three again or he falls short of 270. He is currently deep underwater in all three states and that is why his campaign is desperately searching for other possible states.

And Democats are targeting states like Arizona (where an unpopular appointed Senator is up for reelection against a popular former astronaut), Iowa (where farmers are getting crushed by Trump's tariff war with China) and North Carolina.

The other issue is Trump is now running on a record and not just "populist" promises. And it is a record that was responsible to some degree for the Democrats flipping 40 seats in the House. Two other factors in the 2018 midterm were a huge increase in young, first time voters and suburban Independent women who voted for Trump in 2016 but ran away from Republicans in droves in 2018 on the issues (health care, immigration, climate change...) AND on Trump's behavior that really turned them off.

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Added...this caught my attention today.

GOP allies warn vaping ban will sink Trump in 2020

Conservative leaders are circulating data to White House staff that claims adults who
vape will turn on President Trump if he follows through with his planned ban on
flavored e-cigarettes...
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Seems a bit of a stretch to me but I dont know many who "vape" and I have no idea of the size and intensity of that demographic.

 

GOP rival Bill Weld says Trump has committed ‘treason, pure and simple’

Former Massachusetts governor Bill Weld, who is challenging President Trump for the Republican nomination next year, on Monday accused him of “treason” for pressing the leader of Ukraine to investigate former vice president Joe Biden and his son.

Weld’s comments came in response to reports that Trump repeatedly brought up investigating Biden, who is seeking the 2020 Democratic nomination, and his younger son, Hunter, in a July call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

“Talk about pressuring a foreign country to interfere with and control a U.S. election,” Weld said during an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “It couldn’t be clearer, and that’s not just undermining democratic institutions. That is treason. It’s treason, pure and simple, and the penalty for treason under the U.S. code is death. That’s the only penalty.”​

“The penalty under the Constitution is removal from office, and that might look like a pretty good alternative to the president if he could work out a plea deal,” added Weld, who appeared in a joint interview with two other Republicans challenging Trump, former congressmen Mark Sanford (S.C.). and Joe Walsh (Ill.).

Trump appeared to confirm Sunday as he spoke with reporters that he mentioned Joe and Hunter Biden in the phone call with Zelensky — though he insisted he has done nothing improper...​

Personally, I dont think it rises to the level of treason ("treason" requires aiding and abetting an enemy in time of war), but it certainly requires further investigation by Congress and would be an impeachable offense if the facts support the allegations.

 

He might need to get 1 electoral vote in Maine, and hold onto Wisconsin and Arizona. But there is a path and I think this election is going to be just as close as in 2016. Even if it isn't close the media will want to make us believe it is to keep the ratings up high. It will come down to election night again.

And while demographics have changed a little and more young people (teens who were 14-17 and 11 months in 2016) are now able to vote, and there have been some deaths, I'm not sure if it will change many of the states. And not much has been done to get conservatives to change their lifestyle or liberals to abandon their worldview to shift the outcome of many of these states. One side is doing a lot more on-line to try and push and persuade people though.

Maybe turnout could impact some of these swing states like Ohio, Florida, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Arizona. However, I don't see the Tea Party/Trump base of the GOP losing big enough to need to reform the GOP anytime soon. Yet, the Democrats could lose yet again and not do anything to change and still think trying to win over some small section of the population who thinks abortion is wrong, they like having a gun, and don't want to pay a lot in taxes to help undeserving people is a good strategy.

 

This morning's whine from the Whiner-in-Chief...


View: https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1176570123643060224


Unable to get anything done?

How about : Politics - The Donkey in the room...the Democrats today

Here's a thought for the Whiner-in-Chief....

Tell Mitch McConnell and your Republican buddies in the Senate to get off their asses and act on these highly popular bills and then sign them into law!

 

White House mistakenly sends Trump-Ukraine talking points to Democrats

View: https://twitter.com/RepBrendanBoyle/status/1176888882509615104



View: https://twitter.com/BillPascrell/status/1176900159227269122

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President Trump last Sunday, "Inequality is falling at the fastest rate in many, many years."

President Trump on Wednesday. "...Inequality is down. Something that people don’t like writing about."

The latest Census data released on Thursday: 2018 was worst for income inequality since tracking began in 1967

Income inequality in America is the highest it’s been since census started tracking it, data shows
In the midst of the nation’s longest economic expansion, the separation between rich and poor is at a five-decade high

U.S. income inequality at highest level in 50 years, economic gap growing in heartland
Six states with the biggest yearly gains in inequality were primarily in the heartland — Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, Nebraska, New Hampshire and New Mexico.​