Donald Trump 2020

yoladu · January 17, 2020

18 minutes ago, burntorangebongos said:

the article linked in that tweet

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/10/11/brief-history-trump-downplaying-his-relationships-with-politically-inconvenient-people/

Pasken · January 17, 2020

Anyone think he’ll tweet some reason why he won’t have to leave office even if senators vote to remove him?

FondrenRoad · January 17, 2020

14 minutes ago, Pasken said:

Anyone think he’ll tweet some reason why he won’t have to leave office even if senators vote to remove him?

He won't tweet that because he doesn't think that far ahead and he also knows it will never happen.

In fact, we have a better chance of Zod coming down and deposing Trump than we have of the Senate doing its job.

And having seen Trump in power, I might be team Zod. Zod wasn't a dotard at least.

TornACL · January 17, 2020

It would be a real shame if the strain of all of this is taking a toll on him.

Bruh Man · January 17, 2020

I just don't understand how his defenders are able to lie, lie, lie and constantly cover for their lies when the story changes in front of the public, in front of cameras every fucking day and not feel some sort of anxiety or heart-ache. Do these people not have souls? I lie to my wife once about some trivial shit and I start sweating. How is it these sycophants do this literally every day of this monster's presidency and never go into a nervous tick just once? You really have to be an evil person to partake in this level of dishonesty and not even blink.

Brandywine · January 17, 2020

It boggles the mind how low Republicans have sunk under this President. They’ve lost their moral compass. And they call themselves Christians. It’s all about money.

Mrs Whiggins · January 17, 2020

1 hour ago, Bruh Man said:

I just don't understand how his defenders are able to lie, lie, lie and constantly cover for their lies when the story changes in front of the public, in front of cameras every fucking day and not feel some sort of anxiety or heart-ache. Do these people not have souls? I lie to my wife once about some trivial shit and I start sweating. How is it these sycophants do this literally every day of this monster's presidency and never go into a nervous tick just once? You really have to be an evil person to partake in this level of dishonesty and not even blink.

Perhaps, given that so many of them have been career politicians or corrupt businesspersons since graduation, dishonesty has become a habit? Or they've rationalized that a cover story is preferable to losing power and money? Perhaps with team politics, there would be discomfort in losing that outweighs the discomfort from lying. Those fans that cannot cope when their team loses because it is such a part of their identity that they are afraid this labels themselves as "losers?" That is a fear, that label, and fear drives people to perform some pretty outlandish and/or evil acts. Or maybe it is just that they are the embodiment of the First Lady's jacket and they just don't care. Would severe consequences change them, get them to think about what their lies have done? See: Bakker, Jim circa 2020 Tater Buckets for your answer.

In a different way, do you think that politics has become more and more about "what can I get" and less about "what can I do for the people?" That would seem to attract a different type of personality than the person who sees suffering and wishes to figure out a solution. On social media, you see a broad swath of people who have an account for the 'likes' or attention and people who wish to inform, educate, and empower. And so on.

I took Keller Plan Psychology 101 as part of the core degree plan so I know what I'm talking about. Kidding aside, I agree with you and I don't understand either, but it seems that the GOP has decided that is the route they wish to take, mobbed up and rule by fiat so here we are.

Bozo_Casanova · January 17, 2020

Mapache · January 17, 2020

Oh shut the fuck up, cadet bone spurs

Mrs Whiggins · January 17, 2020

Oh that's good, BC, that's good.

Before I forget, today the President will host the LSU football team at the WH before flying to Florida and Mar-a-Lago. This evening he will join a roundtable of supporters and deliver remarks at a 'joint finance committee' dinner. Is that THE Finance Committee? Is that official business? Conducted at Mar-a-Lago? Axing Medicare over that hamburger? (time for your pic BC)

I have questions, but not much point in asking them anymore.

Sorry @Mapache missed your post. What a bully he is, calling our great warfighters dopes.

Edited January 17, 2020 by Mrs Whiggins
Addition

jimmyjazz · January 17, 2020

57 minutes ago, Mapache said:

Oh shut the fuck up, cadet bone spurs

That article is shocking. It puts a finer point on what we all know about Trump -- he's 100% transactional. He sees everything in dollars and cents. He has no knowledge of history,. He doesn't understand the value of our defense and trade agreements, with allies and others. He holds no respect for our military, from top brass down to the foot soldiers.

By their very nature, top brass is wholly disinclined to contradict the Commander in Chief, and even if any did so, it wouldn't matter to Trump. He'd lash out and diminish them as he did at the Pentagon. I don't think much of Rex Tillerson, but kudos to him for stepping up in support of the military, even though it cost him his job.

That said, the effort to educate the President was clearly going to backfire from the description of the first slide. You don't teach a 3rd-grader arithmetic by showing him algebra. It was a massive failure to understand their audience. At least it exposed Trump for what he is to those officers and high-ranking administrative officials, on the off chance any of them were less than clear about the President.

David Dennison · January 17, 2020

39 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

That article is shocking. It puts a finer point on what we all know about Trump -- he's 100% transactional. He sees everything in dollars and cents. He has no knowledge of history,. He doesn't understand the value of our defense and trade agreements, with allies and others. He holds no respect for our military, from top brass down to the foot soldiers.

By their very nature, top brass is wholly disinclined to contradict the Commander in Chief, and even if any did so, it wouldn't matter to Trump. He'd lash out and diminish them as he did at the Pentagon. I don't think much of Rex Tillerson, but kudos to him for stepping up in support of the military, even though it cost him his job.

That said, the effort to educate the President was clearly going to backfire from the description of the first slide. You don't teach a 3rd-grader arithmetic by showing him algebra. It was a massive failure to understand their audience. At least it exposed Trump for what he is to those officers and high-ranking administrative officials, on the off chance any of them were less than clear about the President.

"He's a fucking moron."

WhatTheBuck · January 17, 2020

Francisco 2.0 · January 17, 2020

1 hour ago, jimmyjazz said:

That article is shocking. It puts a finer point on what we all know about Trump -- he's 100% transactional. He sees everything in dollars and cents. He has no knowledge of history,. He doesn't understand the value of our defense and trade agreements, with allies and others. He holds no respect for our military, from top brass down to the foot soldiers.

By their very nature, top brass is wholly disinclined to contradict the Commander in Chief, and even if any did so, it wouldn't matter to Trump. He'd lash out and diminish them as he did at the Pentagon. I don't think much of Rex Tillerson, but kudos to him for stepping up in support of the military, even though it cost him his job.

That said, the effort to educate the President was clearly going to backfire from the description of the first slide. You don't teach a 3rd-grader arithmetic by showing him algebra. It was a massive failure to understand their audience. At least it exposed Trump for what he is to those officers and high-ranking administrative officials, on the off chance any of them were less than clear about the President.

I have a sub, and I'm going to post the entire article here, because reasons.

It's a credit to the folks who were in that room that day we haven't had a coup yet. But at the same time, with what was said in that meeting, I wouldn't have blamed them a bit for launching one.

Spoiler

There is no more sacred room for military officers than 2E924 of the Pentagon, a windowless and secure vault where the Joint Chiefs of Staff meet regularly to wrestle with classified matters. Its more common name is “the Tank.” The Tank resembles a small corporate boardroom, with a gleaming golden oak table, leather swivel armchairs and other mid-century stylings. Inside its walls, flag officers observe a reverence and decorum for the wrenching decisions that have been made there.

Hanging prominently on one of the walls is The Peacemakers, a painting that depicts an 1865 Civil War strategy session with President Abraham Lincoln and his three service chiefs — Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant, Major General William Tecumseh Sherman, and Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter. One hundred fifty-two years after Lincoln hatched plans to preserve the Union, President Trump’s advisers staged an intervention inside the Tank to try to preserve the world order.

By that point, six months into his administration, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, Director of the National Economic Council Gary Cohn, and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had grown alarmed by gaping holes in Trump’s knowledge of history, especially the key alliances forged following World War II. Trump had dismissed allies as worthless, cozied up to authoritarian regimes in Russia and elsewhere, and advocated withdrawing troops from strategic outposts and active theaters alike.

Trump organized his unorthodox worldview under the simplistic banner of “America First,” but Mattis, Tillerson, and Cohn feared his proposals were rash, barely considered, and a danger to America’s superpower standing. They also felt that many of Trump’s impulsive ideas stemmed from his lack of familiarity with U.S. history and, even, where countries were located. To have a useful discussion with him, the trio agreed, they had to create a basic knowledge, a shared language.

So on July 20, 2017, Mattis invited Trump to the Tank for what he, Tillerson, and Cohn had carefully organized as a tailored tutorial. What happened inside the Tank that day crystallized the commander in chief’s berating, derisive and dismissive manner, foreshadowing decisions such as the one earlier this month that brought the United States to the brink of war with Iran. The Tank meeting was a turning point in Trump’s presidency. Rather than getting him to appreciate America’s traditional role and alliances, Trump began to tune out and eventually push away the experts who believed their duty was to protect the country by restraining his more dangerous impulses.

The episode has been documented numerous times, but subsequent reporting reveals a more complete picture of the moment and the chilling effect Trump’s comments and hostility had on the nation’s military and national security leadership.

Just before 10 a.m. on a scorching summer Thursday, Trump arrived at the Pentagon. He stepped out of his motorcade, walked along a corridor with portraits honoring former chairmen of the Joint Chiefs, and stepped inside the Tank. The uniformed officers greeted their commander in chief. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Joseph F. Dunford Jr. sat in the seat of honor midway down the table, because this was his room, and Trump sat at the head of the table facing a projection screen. Mattis and the newly confirmed deputy defense secretary, Patrick Shanahan, sat to the president’s left, with Vice President Pence and Tillerson to his right. Down the table sat the leaders of the military branches, along with Cohn and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. White House chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon was in the outer ring of chairs with other staff, taking his seat just behind Mattis and directly in Trump’s line of sight.

Mattis, Cohn, and Tillerson and their aides decided to use maps, graphics, and charts to tutor the president, figuring they would help keep him from getting bored. Mattis opened with a slide show punctuated by lots of dollar signs. Mattis devised a strategy to use terms the impatient president, schooled in real estate, would appreciate to impress upon him the value of U.S. investments abroad. He sought to explain why U.S. troops were deployed in so many regions and why America’s safety hinged on a complex web of trade deals, alliances, and bases across the globe.

An opening line flashed on the screen, setting the tone: “The post-war international rules-based order is the greatest gift of the greatest generation.” Mattis then gave a 20-minute briefing on the power of the NATO alliance to stabilize Europe and keep the United States safe. Bannon thought to himself, “Not good. Trump is not going to like that one bit.” The internationalist language Mattis was using was a trigger for Trump.

“Oh, baby, this is going to be f---ing wild,” Bannon thought. “If you stood up and threatened to shoot [Trump], he couldn’t say ‘postwar rules-based international order.’ It’s just not the way he thinks.”

For the next 90 minutes, Mattis, Tillerson, and Cohn took turns trying to emphasize their points, pointing to their charts and diagrams. They showed where U.S. personnel were positioned, at military bases, CIA stations, and embassies, and how U.S. deployments fended off the threats of terror cells, nuclear blasts, and destabilizing enemies in places including Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, the Korea Peninsula, and Syria. Cohn spoke for about 20 minutes about the value of free trade with America’s allies, emphasizing how he saw each trade agreement working together as part of an overall structure to solidify U.S. economic and national security.

Trump appeared peeved by the schoolhouse vibe but also allergic to the dynamic of his advisers talking at him. His ricocheting attention span led him to repeatedly interrupt the lesson. He heard an adviser say a word or phrase and then seized on that to interject with his take. For instance, the word “base” prompted him to launch in to say how “crazy” and “stupid” it was to pay for bases in some countries.

Trump’s first complaint was to repeat what he had vented about to his national security adviser months earlier: South Korea should pay for a $10 billion missile defense system that the United States built for it. The system was designed to shoot down any short- and medium-range ballistic missiles from North Korea to protect South Korea and American troops stationed there. But Trump argued that the South Koreans should pay for it, proposing that the administration pull U.S. troops out of the region or bill the South Koreans for their protection.

“We should charge them rent,” Trump said of South Korea. “We should make them pay for our soldiers. We should make money off of everything.”

Trump proceeded to explain that NATO, too, was worthless. U.S. generals were letting the allied member countries get away with murder, he said, and they owed the United States a lot of money after not living up to their promise of paying their dues.

“They’re in arrears,” Trump said, reverting to the language of real estate. He lifted both his arms at his sides in frustration. Then he scolded top officials for the untold millions of dollars he believed they had let slip through their fingers by allowing allies to avoid their obligations.

“We are owed money you haven’t been collecting!” Trump told them. “You would totally go bankrupt if you had to run your own business.”

Mattis wasn’t trying to convince the president of anything, only to explain and provide facts. Now things were devolving quickly. The general tried to calmly explain to the president that he was not quite right. The NATO allies didn’t owe the United States back rent, he said. The truth was more complicated. NATO had a nonbinding goal that members should pay at least 2 percent of their gross domestic product on their defenses. Only five of the countries currently met that goal, but it wasn’t as if they were shorting the United States on the bill.

More broadly, Mattis argued, the NATO alliance was not serving only to protect western Europe. It protected America, too. “This is what keeps us safe,” Mattis said. Cohn tried to explain to Trump that he needed to see the value of the trade deals. “These are commitments that help keep us safe,” Cohn said.

Bannon interjected. “Stop, stop, stop,” he said. “All you guys talk about all these great things, they’re all our partners, I want you to name me now one country and one company that’s going to have his back.”

Trump then repeated a threat he’d made countless times before. He wanted out of the Iran nuclear deal that President Obama had struck in 2015, which called for Iran to reduce its uranium stockpile and cut its nuclear program.

“It’s the worst deal in history!” Trump declared.

“Well, actually . . .,” Tillerson interjected.

“I don’t want to hear it,” Trump said, cutting off the secretary of state before he could explain some of the benefits of the agreement. “They’re cheating. They’re building. We’re getting out of it. I keep telling you, I keep giving you time, and you keep delaying me. I want out of it.”

Before they could debate the Iran deal, Trump erupted to revive another frequent complaint: the war in Afghanistan, which was now America’s longest war. He demanded an explanation for why the United States hadn’t won in Afghanistan yet, now 16 years after the nation began fighting there in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Trump unleashed his disdain, calling Afghanistan a “loser war.” That phrase hung in the air and disgusted not only the military leaders at the table but also the men and women in uniform sitting along the back wall behind their principals. They all were sworn to obey their commander in chief’s commands, and here he was calling the war they had been fighting a loser war.

“You’re all losers,” Trump said. “You don’t know how to win anymore.”

Trump questioned why the United States couldn’t get some oil as payment for the troops stationed in the Persian Gulf. “We spent $7 trillion; they’re ripping us off,” Trump boomed. “Where is the f---ing oil?”

Trump seemed to be speaking up for the voters who elected him, and several attendees thought they heard Bannon in Trump’s words. Bannon had been trying to persuade Trump to withdraw forces by telling him, “The American people are saying we can’t spend a trillion dollars a year on this. We just can’t. It’s going to bankrupt us.”

“And not just that, the deplorables don’t want their kids in the South China Sea at the 38th parallel or in Syria, in Afghanistan, in perpetuity,” Bannon would add, invoking Hillary Clinton’s infamous “basket of deplorables” reference to Trump supporters.

Trump mused about removing General John Nicholson, the U.S. commander in charge of troops in Afghanistan. “I don’t think he knows how to win,” the president said, impugning Nicholson, who was not present at the meeting.

Dunford tried to come to Nicholson’s defense, but the mild-mannered general struggled to convey his points to the irascible president.

“Mr. President, that’s just not . . .,” Dunford started. “We’ve been under different orders.”

Dunford sought to explain that he hadn’t been charged with annihilating the enemy in Afghanistan but was instead following a strategy started by the Obama administration to gradually reduce the military presence in the country in hopes of training locals to maintain a stable government so that eventually the United States could pull out. Trump shot back in more plain language.

“I want to win,” he said. “We don’t win any wars anymore . . . We spend $7 trillion, everybody else got the oil and we’re not winning anymore.”

Trump by now was in one of his rages. He was so angry that he wasn’t taking many breaths. All morning, he had been coarse and cavalier, but the next several things he bellowed went beyond that description. They stunned nearly everyone in the room, and some vowed that they would never repeat them. Indeed, they have not been reported until now.

“I wouldn’t go to war with you people,” Trump told the assembled brass.

Addressing the room, the commander in chief barked, “You’re a bunch of dopes and babies.”

For a president known for verbiage he euphemistically called “locker room talk,” this was the gravest insult he could have delivered to these people, in this sacred space. The flag officers in the room were shocked. Some staff began looking down at their papers, rearranging folders, almost wishing themselves out of the room. A few considered walking out. They tried not to reveal their revulsion on their faces, but questions raced through their minds. “How does the commander in chief say that?” one thought. “What would our worst adversaries think if they knew he said this?”

This was a president who had been labeled a “draft dodger” for avoiding service in the Vietnam War under questionable circumstances. Trump was a young man born of privilege and in seemingly perfect health: six feet two inches with a muscular build and a flawless medical record. He played several sports, including football. Then, in 1968 at age 22, he obtained a diagnosis of bone spurs in his heels that exempted him from military service just as the United States was drafting men his age to fulfill massive troop deployments to Vietnam.

Tillerson in particular was stunned by Trump’s diatribe and began visibly seething. For too many minutes, others in the room noticed, he had been staring straight, dumbfounded, at Mattis, who was speechless, his head bowed down toward the table. Tillerson thought to himself, “Gosh darn it, Jim, say something. Why aren’t you saying something?”

But, as he would later tell close aides, Tillerson realized in that moment that Mattis was genetically a Marine, unable to talk back to his commander in chief, no matter what nonsense came out of his mouth.

The more perplexing silence was from Pence, a leader who should have been able to stand up to Trump. Instead, one attendee thought, “He’s sitting there frozen like a statue. Why doesn’t he stop the president?” Another recalled the vice president was “a wax museum guy.” From the start of the meeting, Pence looked as if he wanted to escape and put an end to the president’s torrent. Surely, he disagreed with Trump’s characterization of military leaders as “dopes and babies,” considering his son, Michael, was a Marine first lieutenant then training for his naval aviator wings. But some surmised Pence feared getting crosswise with Trump. “A total deer in the headlights,” recalled a third attendee.

Others at the table noticed Trump’s stream of venom had taken an emotional toll. So many people in that room had gone to war and risked their lives for their country, and now they were being dressed down by a president who had not. They felt sick to their stomachs. Tillerson told others he thought he saw a woman in the room silently crying. He was furious and decided he couldn’t stand it another minute. His voice broke into Trump’s tirade, this one about trying to make money off U.S. troops.

“No, that’s just wrong,” the secretary of state said. “Mr. President, you’re totally wrong. None of that is true.”

Tillerson’s father and uncle had both been combat veterans, and he was deeply proud of their service.

“The men and women who put on a uniform don’t do it to become soldiers of fortune,” Tillerson said. “That’s not why they put on a uniform and go out and die . . . They do it to protect our freedom.”

There was silence in the Tank. Several military officers in the room were grateful to the secretary of state for defending them when no one else would. The meeting soon ended and Trump walked out, saying goodbye to a group of servicemen lining the corridor as he made his way to his motorcade waiting outside. Mattis, Tillerson, and Cohn were deflated. Standing in the hall with a small cluster of people he trusted, Tillerson finally let down his guard.

“He’s a f---ing moron,” the secretary of state said of the president.

The plan by Mattis, Tillerson, and Cohn to train the president to appreciate the internationalist view had clearly backfired.

“We were starting to get out on the wrong path, and we really needed to have a course correction and needed to educate, to teach, to help him understand the reason and basis for a lot of these things,” said one senior official involved in the planning. “We needed to change how he thinks about this, to course correct. Everybody was on board, 100 percent agreed with that sentiment. [But] they were dismayed and in shock when not only did it not have the intended effect, but he dug in his heels and pushed it even further on the spectrum, further solidifying his views.”

A few days later, Pence’s national security adviser, Andrea Thompson, a retired Army colonel who had served in Afghanistan and Iraq, reached out to thank Tillerson for speaking up on behalf of the military and the public servants who had been in the Tank. By September 2017, she would leave the White House and join Tillerson at Foggy Bottom as undersecretary of state for arms control and international security affairs.

The Tank meeting had so thoroughly shocked the conscience of military leaders that they tried to keep it a secret. At the Aspen Security Forum two days later, longtime NBC News correspondent Andrea Mitchell asked Dunford how Trump had interacted during the Tank meeting. The Joint Chiefs chairman misleadingly described the meeting, skipping over the fireworks.

“He asked a lot of hard questions, and the one thing he does is question some fundamental assumptions that we make as military leaders — and he will come in and question those,” Dunford told Mitchell on July 22. “It’s a pretty energetic and an interactive dialogue.”

One victim of the Tank meeting was Trump’s relationship with Tillerson, which forever after was strained. The secretary of state came to see it as the beginning of the end. It would only worsen when news that Tillerson had called Trump a “moron” was first reported in October 2017 by NBC News.

Trump once again gathered his generals and top diplomats in December 2017 for a meeting as part of the administration’s ongoing strategy talks about troop deployments in Afghanistan in the Situation Room, a secure meeting room on the ground floor of the West Wing. Trump didn’t like the Situation Room as much as the Pentagon’s Tank, because he didn’t think it had enough gravitas. It just wasn’t impressive.

But there Trump was, struggling to come up with a new Afghanistan policy and frustrated that so many U.S. forces were deployed in so many places around the world. The conversation began to tilt in the same direction as it had in the Tank back in July.

“All these countries need to start paying us for the troops we are sending to their countries. We need to be making a profit,” Trump said. “We could turn a profit on this.”

Dunford tried to explain to the president once again, gently, that troops deployed in these regions provided stability there, which helped make America safer. Another officer chimed in that charging other countries for U.S. soldiers would be against the law.

“But it just wasn’t working,” one former Trump aide recalled. “Nothing worked.”

Following the Tank meeting, Tillerson had told his aides that he would never silently tolerate such demeaning talk from Trump about making money off the deployments of U.S. soldiers. Tillerson’s father, at the age of 17, had committed to enlist in the Navy on his next birthday, wanting so much to serve his country in World War II. His great-uncle was a career officer in the Navy as well. Both men had been on his mind, Tillerson told aides, when Trump unleashed his tirade in the Tank and again when he repeated those points in the Situation Room in December.

“We need to get our money back,” Trump told his assembled advisers.

That was it. Tillerson stood up. But when he did so, he turned his back to the president and faced the flag officers and the rest of the aides in the room. He didn’t want a repeat of the scene in the Tank.

“I’ve never put on a uniform, but I know this,” Tillerson said. “Every person who has put on a uniform, the people in this room, they don’t do it to make a buck. They did it for their country, to protect us. I want everyone to be clear about how much we as a country value their service.”

Tillerson’s rebuke made Trump angry. He got a little red in the face. But the president decided not to engage Tillerson at that moment. He would wait to take him on another day.

Later that evening, after 8:00, Tillerson was working in his office at the State Department’s Foggy Bottom headquarters, preparing for the next day. The phone rang. It was Dunford. The Joint Chiefs chairman’s voice was unsteady with emotion. Dunford had much earlier joked with Tillerson that in past administrations the secretaries of state and Defense Department leaders wouldn’t be caught dead walking on the same side of the street, for their rivalry was that fierce. But now, as both men served Trump, they were brothers joined against what they saw as disrespect for service members. Dunford thanked Tillerson for standing up for them in the Situation Room.

“You took the body blows for us,” Dunford said. “Punch after punch. Thank you. I will never forget it.

Tillerson, Dunford, and Mattis would not take those body blows for much longer. They failed to rein in Trump’s impulses or to break through what they regarded as the president’s stubborn, even dangerous insistence that he knew best. Piece by piece, the guardrails that had hemmed in the chaos of Trump’s presidency crumpled.

In March 2018, Trump abruptly fired Tillerson while the secretary of state was halfway across the globe on a sensitive diplomatic mission to Africa to ease tensions caused by Trump’s demeaning insults about African countries. Trump gave Tillerson no rationale for his firing, and afterward acted as if they were buddies, inviting him to come by the Oval Office to take a picture and have the president sign it. Tillerson never went.

Mattis continued serving as the defense secretary, but the president’s sudden decision in December 2018 to withdraw troops from Syria and abandon America’s Kurdish allies there — one the president soon reversed, only to remake 10 months later — inspired him to resign. Mattis saw Trump’s desired withdrawal as an assault on a soldier’s code. “He began to feel like he was becoming complicit,” recalled one of the secretary’s confidants.

The media interpretation of Mattis’ resignation letter as a scathing rebuke of Trump’s worldview brought the president’s anger to a boiling point. Trump decided to remove Mattis two months ahead of the secretary’s chosen departure date. His treatment of Mattis upset the secretary’s staff. They decided to arrange the biggest clap out they could. The event was a tradition for all departing secretaries. They wanted a line of Pentagon personnel that stretched for a mile applauding Mattis as he left for the last time. It was going to be “yuge,” staffers joked, borrowing from Trump’s glossary.

But Mattis would not allow it.

“No, we are not doing that,” he told his aides. “You don’t understand the president. I work with him. You don’t know him like I do. He will take it out on Shanahan and Dunford.”

Dunford stayed on until September 2019, retiring at the conclusion of his four-year term as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. One of Dunford’s first public acts after leaving office was to defend a military officer attacked by Trump, Army Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, a National Security Council official who testified in the House impeachment inquiry about his worries over Trump’s conduct with Ukraine. Trump dismissed Vindman as a “Never Trumper,” but Dunford stepped forward to praise the Purple Heart recipient as “a professional, competent, patriotic, and loyal officer. He has made an extraordinary contribution to the security of our nation.”

By then, however, Trump had become a president entirely unrestrained. He had replaced his raft of seasoned advisers with a cast of enablers who executed his orders and engaged his obsessions. They saw their mission as telling the president yes.

jimmyjazz · January 17, 2020

2 minutes ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

I have a sub, and I'm going to post the entire article here, because reasons.

Yeah, I subscribed a while back, along with the NYT. Liberal birdcage liners both, but hey.

(Thanks for posting, I didn't have it in me to go through and strip out all but the text.)

Jive Turkey · January 17, 2020

Props to the Longhorn in the room.

Quote

Others at the table noticed Trump’s stream of venom had taken an emotional toll. So many people in that room had gone to war and risked their lives for their country, and now they were being dressed down by a president who had not. They felt sick to their stomachs. Tillerson told others he thought he saw a woman in the room silently crying. He was furious and decided he couldn’t stand it another minute. His voice broke into Trump’s tirade, this one about trying to make money off U.S. troops.

“No, that’s just wrong,” the secretary of state said. “Mr. President, you’re totally wrong. None of that is true.”

Tillerson’s father and uncle had both been combat veterans, and he was deeply proud of their service.

“The men and women who put on a uniform don’t do it to become soldiers of fortune,” Tillerson said. “That’s not why they put on a uniform and go out and die . . . They do it to protect our freedom.”

There was silence in the Tank. Several military officers in the room were grateful to the secretary of state for defending them when no one else would. The meeting soon ended and Trump walked out, saying goodbye to a group of servicemen lining the corridor as he made his way to his motorcade waiting outside. Mattis, Tillerson, and Cohn were deflated. Standing in the hall with a small cluster of people he trusted, Tillerson finally let down his guard.

“He’s a f---ing moron,” the secretary of state said of the president.

Edited January 17, 2020 by Jive Turkey

Francisco 2.0 · January 17, 2020

1 minute ago, jimmyjazz said:

Yeah, I subscribed a while back, along with the NYT. Liberal birdcage liners both, but hey.

(Thanks for posting, I didn't have it in me to go through and strip out all but the text.)

My wife is a fed, and she gets a free sub to the Post. Otherwise, I wouldn't "have" one myself. But it does come in handy.

hayden_horn · January 17, 2020

that article is terrifying

SmokeyTheBear · January 17, 2020

Any Trumpers want to defend Trump here? Or is it fake news?

This is the core reason why I do not think that those who are successful in business (this excludes Trump mostly) should be in leadership in government. Government is not about turning a profit. Making decisions with that as your main priority will just get Americans killed and lesson our global power.

Edited January 17, 2020 by SmokeyTheBear

bolverk · January 17, 2020

We joke about him playing 3D chess, but it occurred to me that I don't think he's ever played it.

An analogy for his view of allies: he outright dismisses the value of a strategically placed pawn protected by a queen. Instead, he'd prefer to use his queen to clear the board by simply going it alone, taking on each opposing piece individually without seeing the whole game.

atomheartbevo · January 17, 2020

4 hours ago, Bruh Man said:

I just don't understand how his defenders are able to lie, lie, lie and constantly cover for their lies when the story changes in front of the public, in front of cameras every fucking day and not feel some sort of anxiety or heart-ache. Do these people not have souls? I lie to my wife once about some trivial shit and I start sweating. How is it these sycophants do this literally every day of this monster's presidency and never go into a nervous tick just once? You really have to be an evil person to partake in this level of dishonesty and not even blink.

If Trump goes down, he’s taking the GOP with him. That’s very clear. He will burn the GOP down, and the voters will finish the job.

Trump is basically the scorpion, and the GOP is the frog swimming with him on their back.

Fudge Nuggets · January 17, 2020

That article once again confirms Mattis is a pussy ass piece of shit. Fuck him forever.

jimmyjazz · January 17, 2020

11 minutes ago, bolverk said:

An analogy for his view of allies: he outright dismisses the value of a strategically placed pawn protected by a queen. Instead, he'd prefer to use his queen to clear the board by simply going it alone, taking on each opposing piece individually without seeing the whole game.

. . . which is, by definition, a losing strategy.

bolverk · January 17, 2020

5 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

. . . which is, by definition, a losing strategy.

...which is how a typical snotty eight-year-old brat plays the game. Hence, Trump.

hornhorn · January 17, 2020

5 hours ago, Bruh Man said:

I just don't understand how his defenders are able to lie, lie, lie and constantly cover for their lies when the story changes in front of the public, in front of cameras every fucking day and not feel some sort of anxiety or heart-ache. Do these people not have souls? I lie to my wife once about some trivial shit and I start sweating. How is it these sycophants do this literally every day of this monster's presidency and never go into a nervous tick just once? You really have to be an evil person to partake in this level of dishonesty and not even blink.

This is what supporters and fanatics do. Here, let's do a test real quick and watch you and other Obama supporters defend him.

Did you know Obama dropped depleted Uranium on Syrians sentencing generations to cancer, malformed babies etc.? And then apologized for it because we as a nation had decided not to do so after we did that in 2003. This is arguably as bad or worse than anything Trump has ever done. Does that change your opinion of Obama?

4th&Five · January 17, 2020

Continental Op · January 17, 2020

This is what supporters and fanatics do. Here, let's do a test real quick and watch you and other Obama supporters defend him.
Did you know Obama dropped depleted Uranium on Syrians sentencing generations to cancer, malformed babies etc.? And then apologized for it because we as a nation had decided not to do so after we did that in 2003. This is arguably as bad or worse than anything Trump has ever done. Does that change your opinion of Obama?

But Obama!

BradInATX · January 17, 2020

9 minutes ago, 4th&Five said:

The sad part is that his blatantly obvious, subtle as a rocket launcher attempts to divide the Democrats will work on a good amount of people, as is tradition.

atomheartbevo · January 17, 2020

Iranian leader publicly called a Trump a clown. Today will be an infrastructure day.

Mrs Whiggins · January 17, 2020

2 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

That article is shocking. It puts a finer point on what we all know about Trump -- he's 100% transactional. He sees everything in dollars and cents. He has no knowledge of history,. He doesn't understand the value of our defense and trade agreements, with allies and others. He holds no respect for our military, from top brass down to the foot soldiers.

By their very nature, top brass is wholly disinclined to contradict the Commander in Chief, and even if any did so, it wouldn't matter to Trump. He'd lash out and diminish them as he did at the Pentagon. I don't think much of Rex Tillerson, but kudos to him for stepping up in support of the military, even though it cost him his job.

That said, the effort to educate the President was clearly going to backfire from the description of the first slide. You don't teach a 3rd-grader arithmetic by showing him algebra. It was a massive failure to understand their audience. At least it exposed Trump for what he is to those officers and high-ranking administrative officials, on the off chance any of them were less than clear about the President.

The transactional view is very much like his father, from accounts I've read.

@Francisco 2.0 thank you so very much for posting the article, much rep to you.

ryskey · January 17, 2020

24 minutes ago, hornhorn said:

This is what supporters and fanatics do. Here, let's do a test real quick and watch you and other Obama supporters defend him.

Did you know Obama dropped depleted Uranium on Syrians sentencing generations to cancer, malformed babies etc.? And then apologized for it because we as a nation had decided not to do so after we did that in 2003. This is arguably as bad or worse than anything Trump has ever done. Does that change your opinion of Obama?

You're a drama queen.

https://www.un.org/disarmament/convarms/more-on-depleted-uranium/

The United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) continues to review the latest information in scientific literature on the effects on humans of internal exposure due to inhalation or ingestion of uranium, including DU. UNSCEAR has concluded that no clinically significant pathology related to radiation exposure to depleted uranium was found (See A/71/139).

In studies in which the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was involved, the resulting radiological risk to the public and the environment was not significant in situations where depleted uranium is observed in the form of localized contamination of the environment by small particles resulting from the impacts.

However, in the situations where fragments of, or complete, depleted uranium ammunitions were found, there is a potential risk of radiation effects for individuals who come into direct contact with such fragments or ammunitions.

This risk can be mitigated by national authorities through conducting such simple countermeasures as the collection, storage and disposal of such fragments.

Nevertheless, in a post-conflict environment, the presence of depleted uranium residues can further increase the anxiety of local populations. The results of the radiological assessments conducted by IAEA in cooperation with UNEP and WHO provide the basis for public reassurance.

No one lives where those rounds were used. Should they have been used? Probably not. Egregious military and foreign policy blunder as bad as a complete misunderstanding of the Post-WWII military-economic order? Probably not.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/02/14/the-united-states-used-depleted-uranium-in-syria/

Quote

Video of the second DU run on Nov. 22 destroyed what is described as 283 “Daesh Oil trucks” in the desert between Al-Hasakeh and Deir Ezzor — both capitals of governorates of the same names.

Edited January 17, 2020 by ryskey

hornhorn · January 17, 2020

9 minutes ago, ryskey said:

You're a drama queen.

https://www.un.org/disarmament/convarms/more-on-depleted-uranium/

The United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) continues to review the latest information in scientific literature on the effects on humans of internal exposure due to inhalation or ingestion of uranium, including DU. UNSCEAR has concluded that no clinically significant pathology related to radiation exposure to depleted uranium was found (See A/71/139).

In studies in which the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was involved, the resulting radiological risk to the public and the environment was not significant in situations where depleted uranium is observed in the form of localized contamination of the environment by small particles resulting from the impacts.

However, in the situations where fragments of, or complete, depleted uranium ammunitions were found, there is a potential risk of radiation effects for individuals who come into direct contact with such fragments or ammunitions.

This risk can be mitigated by national authorities through conducting such simple countermeasures as the collection, storage and disposal of such fragments.

Nevertheless, in a post-conflict environment, the presence of depleted uranium residues can further increase the anxiety of local populations. The results of the radiological assessments conducted by IAEA in cooperation with UNEP and WHO provide the basis for public reassurance.

No one lives where those rounds were used. Should they have been used? Probably not. Egregious military and foreign policy blunder as bad as a complete misunderstanding of the Post-WWII military-economic order?

https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/02/14/the-united-states-used-depleted-uranium-in-syria/

Like I said, watch them cover their ears and eyes and defend their cult hero. Whoever it may be, Trump or Obama. Isn't it why we dropped it, because its uh harmless.

Whether or not DU causes cancer is a popular question in the public media and controversial in the scientific literature. While the radioactivity of DU is low, it is not absent. It has been pointed out [41] that if even a little as 1−2% of the 300 tons of DU used in the Gulf War were converted to respirable dust it would produce three to six million grams of DU dust. Using the figures provided by Durakovic this would release 1.16 million to 2.32 million Ci of radiation, a measure that would exceed the New York state safety levels for monthly release of 150Ci by a factor of 7,733 to 15,467. However, it is unlikely that this amount would be inhaled or ingested by a population, most of it would probably end up in the soil or diluted by the wind. Nonetheless, these figures suggest that it may not be prudent to completely ignore radiation risks from DU.

Human studies examining the carcinogenic potential of DU are limited but suggestive. Evidence of potential carcinogenic effects include suggestions of an increase in cervical carcinomas in Yugoslavia [42,43] and increases in micronuclei formation in subjects from the Bosnia/Herzegovina region [44]. There are also indications of hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyl transferase (HPRT) mutation in some Gulf War veterans [40] as well as chromosomal aberrations in a German study group [45]. Two studies have found suggestive chromosomal aberrations in workers exposed to DU [46,47].

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2819790/

Edited January 17, 2020 by hornhorn

bolverk · January 17, 2020

2 minutes ago, hornhorn said:

This is what supporters and fanatics do. Here, let's do a test real quick and watch you and other Obama supporters defend him.

Did you know Obama dropped depleted Uranium on Syrians sentencing generations to cancer, malformed babies etc.? And then apologized for it because we as a nation had decided not to do so after we did that in 2003. This is arguably as bad or worse than anything Trump has ever done. Does that change your opinion of Obama?

I'd like more information on this, because it just might change my opinion on Obama. I've found the FP story talking about its use against a fuel convoy in the deserts of eastern Syria against previous promises by CENTCOM not to use it, but I've yet to find anything saying that Obama either a) knew beforehand about its use or b) that he apologized for having ordered it.

Please & thanks.

Red Five · January 17, 2020

Yesterday Trump said he was "just impeached". Today he said "they're trying to impeach me". I really don't think he has a good handle on what's going on.

Mrs Whiggins · January 17, 2020

1 minute ago, Red Five said:

Yesterday Trump said he was "just impeached". Today he said "they're trying to impeach me". I really don't think he has a good handle on what's going on.

Tiny hands will do that to you.

Goredho · January 17, 2020

17 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

Seriously. And I mean this in the spirit of honest discussion, not to be demeaning. The scenario I described is what he is, it's what he does, and it always has been. I'm going to give a big benefit of the doubt, and presume that lots of folks thought/hoped that he would perform differently in the White House. I get it, sometimes we vote on hope.

But he's been perhaps the most consistent president in my lifetime. What you saw in his life before the presidency, and his campaign, is EXACTLY what you've gotten in the presidency. There's no mystery. He is entirely predictable, he runs the same plays over and over. Today, you KNOW that whatever the issue that might bear some attention and improvement (let's go with Iran, as a recent example)....instead of improving it from its current status, he's going to amp up the crisis to dangerous/terrifying levels, then ratchet it back from that terrifying level (thus causing all of us to breathe a sigh of relief), and claim some sort of victory for avoiding disaster. You can't honestly expect that he'll ever do anything BUT that. Right?

The perfect storm of ego, stupidity and daddy money. The funny thing about that consistency is it is a big part of why his base loves him. Make a policy checklist gleaned from the trailer-park ramblings of American Cletus and make that your platform. Work down that list, issuing executive orders for each, and then proclaim the problem fixed. Who the fuck cares what effect its had or if its had any effect at all? All he has to do is claim its done and its done for his base. Tax break? CHECK! Strengthen porous southern border? CHECK! Took care of the working man? CHECK! Got us out of foreign entanglements? CHECK! Dismantling the deep state? CHECK!

Incessant lying? Baseless investigations into political opponents? Debt ballooning? Long term economic indicators showing an impending cliff? Staff members resigning in protest? Kids in cages? Domestic hate violence rising? Allies, even Great Britain, distancing themselves from us?

To the educated and/or moderately intelligent, those are disturbing signs of being headed in the wrong fucking direction. But none of it matters to Cletus. Trump is one of them. They share the same dimly flickering mental lightbulb. He's taken his and Cletus' shitty ideas and ran with them and Cletus absolutely worships him for it. Because when you ignore everything else and just take Trump's word for it, he's absolutely the most effective President ever. The most effective at executing Cletus' shitty ideas, which all work fantastically because Trump said so. That in turn elevates Cletus to a position superior to what he is in reality -- a fucking moron who can't even effectively manage his goddamed double-wide trailer.

hornhorn · January 17, 2020

23 minutes ago, bolverk said:

I'd like more information on this, because it just might change my opinion on Obama. I've found the FP story talking about its use against a fuel convoy in the deserts of eastern Syria against previous promises by CENTCOM not to use it, but I've yet to find anything saying that Obama either a) knew beforehand about its use or b) that he apologized for having ordered it.

Please & thanks.

If nothing, his admin at least stonewalled more inquiry into it. Here ya go: http://www.allgov.com/news/top-stories/obama-administration-stonewalls-inquiry-into-radioactive-weapon-use-in-iraq-130309?news=849366

And the fact that there is very limited information available on it should tell you all you need to make an assessment on our media. But watch them go crazy over Donny calling Rosie fat.

Edited January 17, 2020 by hornhorn

WhatTheBuck · January 17, 2020

So I guess we don't have a problem with the depleted uranium munitions used by the Bushes?

hornhorn · January 17, 2020

1 minute ago, WhatTheBuck said:

So I guess we don't have a problem with the depleted uranium munitions used by the Bushes?

Of course we do, he did it way worse with hundreds of thousands of rounds being dropped vs only 5000 rounds by Obama.

If this was an overwhelmingly pro W board I'd bring that up.

cactusflinthead · January 17, 2020

1 hour ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

That article once again confirms Mattis is a pussy ass piece of shit. Fuck him forever.

I was told that I don't understand the Marines because they can't speak back to their leaders no matter what manner of psychobabble vomits out of them.

And I am glad Tillerson was never a Marine.

From the article

Tillerson in particular was stunned by Trump’s diatribe and began visibly seething. For too many minutes, others in the room noticed, he had been staring straight, dumbfounded, at Mattis, who was speechless, his head bowed down toward the table. Tillerson thought to himself, “Gosh darn it, Jim, say something. Why aren’t you saying something?”

But, as he would later tell close aides, Tillerson realized in that moment that Mattis was genetically a Marine, unable to talk back to his commander in chief, no matter what nonsense came out of his mouth.

Edited January 17, 2020 by cactusflinthead
Quote

ryskey · January 17, 2020

19 minutes ago, hornhorn said:

Like I said, watch them cover their ears and eyes and defend their cult hero. Whoever it may be, Trump or Obama. Isn't it why we dropped it, because its uh harmless.

Whether or not DU causes cancer is a popular question in the public media and controversial in the scientific literature. While the radioactivity of DU is low, it is not absent. It has been pointed out [41] that if even a little as 1−2% of the 300 tons of DU used in the Gulf War were converted to respirable dust it would produce three to six million grams of DU dust. Using the figures provided by Durakovic this would release 1.16 million to 2.32 million Ci of radiation, a measure that would exceed the New York state safety levels for monthly release of 150Ci by a factor of 7,733 to 15,467. However, it is unlikely that this amount would be inhaled or ingested by a population, most of it would probably end up in the soil or diluted by the wind. Nonetheless, these figures suggest that it may not be prudent to completely ignore radiation risks from DU.

Human studies examining the carcinogenic potential of DU are limited but suggestive. Evidence of potential carcinogenic effects include suggestions of an increase in cervical carcinomas in Yugoslavia [42,43] and increases in micronuclei formation in subjects from the Bosnia/Herzegovina region [44]. There are also indications of hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyl transferase (HPRT) mutation in some Gulf War veterans [40] as well as chromosomal aberrations in a German study group [45]. Two studies have found suggestive chromosomal aberrations in workers exposed to DU [46,47].

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2819790/

The area that the DU rounds were shot in Syria is uninhabitable. There is no human exposure because there aren't any humans there. So no chance of cancer.

Kosovo and Bosnia are both very mountainous, and wherever there's a flat spot or valley, there are a lot of people. The reason there hasn't been a lot of international outrage on this Syria thing is because there is very little chance of human exposure. That doesn't absolve the commanding officer for his decision to use DU rounds in Syria, but the consequences are tiny compared to Bosnia and Kosovo.

atomheartbevo · January 17, 2020

atomheartbevo · January 17, 2020

bolverk · January 17, 2020

1 hour ago, hornhorn said:

This is what supporters and fanatics do. Here, let's do a test real quick and watch you and other Obama supporters defend him.

Did you know Obama dropped depleted Uranium on Syrians sentencing generations to cancer, malformed babies etc.? And then apologized for it because we as a nation had decided not to do so after we did that in 2003. This is arguably as bad or worse than anything Trump has ever done. Does that change your opinion of Obama?

12 minutes ago, hornhorn said:

If nothing, his admin at least stonewalled more inquiry into it. Here ya go: http://www.allgov.com/news/top-stories/obama-administration-stonewalls-inquiry-into-radioactive-weapon-use-in-iraq-130309?news=849366

And the fact that there is very limited information available on it should tell you all you need to make an assessment on our media. But watch them go crazy over Donny calling Rosie fat.

So, neither can you say that he ordered its use nor can you say he apologized for it. Then, you provide a link to an opinion with no supporting links that he was responsible for stonewalling an investigation into the use of DU.

Meanwhile, this thread is about what Trump is doing today. Got it.

Phase One: Distract.

Phase Two: Deny.

Phase Three: Defend.

Phase one partially accomplished.

Francisco 2.0 · January 17, 2020

hornhorn · January 17, 2020

2 minutes ago, bolverk said:

So, neither can you say that he ordered its use nor can you say he apologized for it. Then, you provide a link to an opinion with no supporting links that he was responsible for stonewalling an investigation into the use of DU.

Meanwhile, this thread is about what Trump is doing today. Got it.

Phase One: Distract.

Phase Two: Deny.

Phase Three: Defend.

Phase one partially accomplished.

Oh Trump is totally at fault for whatever you're accusing him of doing. No distractions there, his faults are his faults.

But I suppose if he doesn't apologize for it like Obama, he didn't do it either. Gotcha!

bolverk · January 17, 2020

1 minute ago, hornhorn said:

Oh Trump is totally at fault for whatever you're accusing him of doing. No distractions there, his faults are his faults.

But I suppose if he doesn't apologize for it like Obama, he didn't do it either. Gotcha!

Start another thread and then provide information showing Obama's apology to start a meaningful discussion on that topic.

hornhorn · January 17, 2020

1 minute ago, bolverk said:

Start another thread and then provide information showing Obama's apology to start a meaningful discussion on that topic.

Nah, I'll do it right here.

Fudge Nuggets · January 17, 2020

1 hour ago, hornhorn said:

This is arguably as bad or worse than anything Trump has ever done. Does that change your opinion of Obama?

Wut? It’s bad but nothing close to the bullshit dotard pulls every day.

4th&Five · January 17, 2020

20 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

what y'all seem to be missing is that hunter biden might have gotten a job he wasn't qualified for.

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