Trump 27: Happy Holidays Orange Menace

[GrumpyGran]

1 hour ago, onekidanddone said:

Who are the going to blame when they have lost their health insurance,

Hillary, Obama, liberals,deep state, uranium, CNN. fake news, Soros, that guy with the fake dossier, that guy in the FBI, Comey. I'm afraid it's hopeless. They are like Jack, there's no room on the door, so we're going to have to let them sink into the freezing water. We're Rose, they're Jack. Cue Celine Dion. 

[smittykins]

Or, to use Little House on the Prairie, no room in the wagon. 

[onekidanddone]

19 minutes ago, GrumpyGran said:

Hillary, Obama, liberals,deep state, uranium, CNN. fake news, Soros, that guy with the fake dossier, that guy in the FBI, Comey. I'm afraid it's hopeless. They are like Jack, there's no room on the door, so we're going to have to let them sink into the freezing water. We're Rose, they're Jack. Cue Celine Dion. 

I'm really tired of this whole 'deep state' bull shit. If this were true the tax bill never would have passed and all the regulations never would have been gutted. There is no deep state.

[Destiny]

The deep state has to exist. Breitbart said so and they are never wrong and are the only true source of news in the world.

[GreyhoundFan]

Not only would I NOT pay $750 to attend, they would have to pay me more than that to go: "Ticket prices go up for Trump’s ‘very glam’ New Year’s Eve bash at Mar-a-Lago"

Spoiler

PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Trump is set to ring in the new year the same way he has for about two decades — at the lavish party he hosts at his private club here.

But this weekend’s gala at Mar-a-Lago, his first since becoming president, will be a little different: The security will be tighter. The crowds will probably be bigger. And the tickets will run $750 a guest, a hike from last year, according to members and guests.

Trump supporters said the extra hassle and cost will be worth it.

“It’s a very glam night. I think everyone is even more excited this year than last year, because then he was president-elect, he hadn’t been sworn in,” said Toni Holt Kramer, a member of the club and co-founder of the “Trumpettes USA” group. “Now he’s president, and he’s accomplished so much already.”

Membership applications at Mar-a-Lago surged after Trump was elected, leading the club to double its initiation fee to $200,000 this year. As president, Trump no longer runs his real estate and hotel business, but he continues to own Mar-a-Lago and his other properties.

Critics said the boost in prices for Sunday’s party and Trump’s regular trips to Trump Organization properties — this is the president’s tenth visit to Mar-a-Lago this year — show how he is using his position to promote his brand.

“The president continues to find ways to profit from public office, by exploiting the fact that there are people who will pay to spend time with him and to be seen with him,” said Kathleen Clark, a government ethics expert at the Washington University School of Law in St. Louis.

The White House and Trump Organization officials did not respond to requests for comment. A woman who answered the phone at Mar-a-Lago declined to share details about the party with a nonmember and said there was no press office to respond to inquiries.

For some, the New Year’s Eve bash at Mar-a-Lago is the highlight of the Palm Beach social season.

Hundreds of guests attend the red-carpet gala, which begins with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres. Dinner typically involves a four-course meal that ends with a signature dessert — the meringue-topped baked Alaska. One year, the menu was printed on white chocolate.

In 2010, singer Rod Stewart, talk show host Regis Philbin and a Tiger Woods impersonator showed up at the party. Afterward, Trump told the Palm Beach Daily News: “People came up to me to say that the Rod Stewart and Regis impersonators were great but that the Tiger guy was so-so. I don’t think they realized Rod and Regis were the real ones.”

About 500 to 600 guests attended last year’s bash, according to guests. Then-President-elect Trump took the stage to make New Year’s remarks. Donald Trump Jr., whose birthday is New Year’s Eve, danced in a conga line, photos from the event show. Actors Sylvester Stallone and Fabio Lanzoni took photos with guests.

This year, the gala decor, which tended to lean toward the more garish side before Trump ran for president — Las Vegas showgirls, “Moulin Rouge,” ’70s disco theme — will be more muted, sophisticated and fitting for a president.

“There’s a more modern vibe than in the past,” said Steve Levine, co-owner of Jose Graterol Designs of Miami, which is handling the party decor for the fourth year.

This year’s theme is “modern fantasy garden,” with floral patterns and “metallic gold, silver and shades thereof,” he said. It’s a twist on last year’s “more traditional garden” theme, Levine added.

The cover band Party on the Moon will play again, as it has since 2009. The band plays more than 100 songs over four-and-a-half hours, including rock, R&B and pop, said Dennis Smith, the band’s lead guitarist and manager.

“It’s very high-energy music, and people at Mar-a-Lago are really about having a good time. As soon as the doors open, people hit the dance floor,” Smith said.

This year’s event is expected to be bigger than last year’s, with a VIP area being built on top of the stage, according to an employee who helps out with events at the club.

Tickets cost $600 for members and $750 for guests, an increase from last year, as Politico first reported.

Kramer said tickets this year may be hard to come by because members get first dibs.

“I expect most of the members will want to be there. It’s going to be fabulous,” she said, adding that Trump will “be the last one to leave the party, and the first one up in the morning, tweeting. Lucky for us, he doesn’t need a lot of sleep.”

Mar-a-Lago’s New Year’s Eve scene isn’t for everyone, especially as the party has grown bigger and become more high-profile. Billionaire developer Jeff Greene, a club member who has attended the New Year’s Eve event in the past, said he will host a party at one of his own venues this year, instead.

“I don’t like going out with a bunch of strangers,” Greene said.

Plus, there are other, more exclusive parties in town — like the invitation-only bash thrown by the all-male group Palm Beach Coconuts, usually held at the Flagler Museum.

One longtime denizen of ritzy Palm Beach noted to a reporter that Mar-a-Lago was considered new-money and gaudy compared with more venerable clubs in town.

“None of the right people will be there,” she whispered.

I wonder if the TT partakes in the meal everyone else has, or does he get his normal steak with ketchup and ice cream (two scoops, of course). I just can't see him eating baked Alaska.

[onekidanddone]

6 hours ago, GrumpyGran said:

Hillary, Obama, liberals,deep state, uranium, CNN. fake news, Soros, that guy with the fake dossier, that guy in the FBI, Comey. I'm afraid it's hopeless. They are like Jack, there's no room on the door, so we're going to have to let them sink into the freezing water. We're Rose, they're Jack. Cue Celine Dion. 

Abe Lincoln. 

1 hour ago, GreyhoundFan said:

Not only would I NOT pay $750 to attend, they would have to pay me more than that to go: "Ticket prices go up for Trump’s ‘very glam’ New Year’s Eve bash at Mar-a-Lago"

Compared to Mar-a-Lago, a colonoscopy prep looks pretty good.

[GrumpyGran]

5 minutes ago, onekidanddone said:

Abe Lincoln. 

Compared to Mar-a-Lago, a colonoscopy prep looks pretty good.

And I've been there. You are right!

[GreyhoundFan]

From the editorial board of the WaPo: "Trump’s vendetta against federal law enforcement"

Spoiler

ONCE AGAIN, President Trump has launched a round of attacks on federal law-enforcement agencies. Mr. Trump’s fury at the FBI and the Justice Department is now familiar, as is its purpose: to discredit special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation into Russian election interference and degrade the independence of law enforcement. The only novelty lies in the question of what or who he will vilify next.

The most recent subjects of the president’s frustration include two top career FBI officials, Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and former general counsel James Baker. Without evidence, Mr. Trump hinted darkly on Twitter at some wrongdoing by Mr. Baker in noting his reassignment from the general counsel position. Mr. Trump reiterated his attacks from this summer on Mr. McCabe, accusing the deputy director of political bias because of donations by Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) to a failed state senate campaign run by Mr. McCabe’s wife. Yet there is no law prohibiting the spouses of civil servants from running for political office. And Mr. McCabe did no work for the campaign, which had ended by the time he was assigned to the Hillary Clinton email investigation.

This has not stopped congressional Republicans from calling for the head of the deputy director, who plans to retire in March. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) declared that Mr. McCabe should depart the bureau to ensure that “there’s not undue political influence within the FBI.” Likewise, Republican members of the House Intelligence Committee have baselessly suggested that Mr. Baker was somehow involved in providing to the media information about a private investigator’s dossier on Mr. Trump’s alleged Russian connections.

The criticism of Mr. McCabe and Mr. Baker is just one more attempt to kick up dust around the special counsel’s investigation, along with overblown concerns regarding the credibility of Mr. Mueller’s team and scandalmongering over the sale of uranium mining rights to a Russian company during Ms. Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state. Despite Mr. Trump’s belief that the probe is “bad for the country,” the White House insists that the president has no intention of firing Mr. Mueller. But with the help of his allies in Congress and the media, Mr. Trump has been laying the groundwork to discredit the special counsel’s eventual findings by painting the FBI as dishonest and corrupt.

In assisting the president’s efforts to erode public trust in Mr. Mueller, congressional Republicans are also abetting his attacks on the independence and integrity of federal law enforcement as a whole. “I have absolute right to do what I want to do with the Justice Department,” Mr. Trump claimed this week. The foundations of our democracy rest on the opposite being true: that no one is above the law and that justice will be dealt out evenhandedly, not on the basis of political vendettas.

Calls for a partisan housecleaning of federal law enforcement will only make it easier for Mr. Trump to turn the FBI and the Justice Department into the politicized shells he already imagines them to be.

Sad, but true.

[AmazonGrace]

 

[47of74]

I see Fuck Face is going to have lunch with Skeletor

Quote

President Trump will talk to Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) about hurricane recovery during a lunch on Sunday, according to the White House.

“President Donald J. Trump invited Florida Governor Rick Scott to join him for lunch on Sunday to discuss ongoing hurricane recovery efforts, the need to improve the nation’s aging infrastructure and other matters important to Floridians,” said spokesperson Helen Ferre, according to reporter traveling with the president in Florida.

 

[GrumpyGran]

53 minutes ago, 47of74 said:

“President Donald J. Trump invited Florida Governor Rick Scott to join him for lunch on Sunday to discuss ongoing hurricane recovery efforts, the need to improve the nation’s aging infrastructure and other matters important to Floridians,” said spokesperson Helen Ferre, according to reporter traveling with the president in Florida.

"Ms Ferre said the lunch would also include Gov. Scott giving the President a tongue-bath".

I guess this is considered "work"?

[fraurosena]

The presidunce making a profit off his presiduncy. Is that even news? 

Ticket prices go up for a very glam New Year's Eve bash at Mar-a-Lago.

Quote

President Trump is set to ring in the new year the same way he has for about two decades — at the lavish party he hosts at his private club here.

But this weekend’s gala at Mar-a-Lago, his first since becoming president, will be a little different: The security will be tighter. The crowds will probably be bigger. And the tickets will run $750 a guest, a hike from last year, according to members and guests.

Trump supporters said the extra hassle and cost will be worth it.

“It’s a very glam night. I think everyone is even more excited this year than last year, because then he was president-elect, he hadn’t been sworn in,” said Toni Holt Kramer, a member of the club and co-founder of the “Trumpettes USA” group. “Now he’s president, and he’s accomplished so much already.”

Membership applications at Mar-a-Lago surged after Trump was elected, leading the club to double its initiation fee to $200,000 this year. As president, Trump no longer runs his real estate and hotel business, but he continues to own Mar-a-Lago and his other properties.

Critics said the boost in prices for Sunday’s party and Trump’s regular trips to Trump Organization properties — this is the president’s tenth visit to Mar-a-Lago this year — show how he is using his position to promote his brand.

“The president continues to find ways to profit from public office, by exploiting the fact that there are people who will pay to spend time with him and to be seen with him,” said Kathleen Clark, a government ethics expert at the Washington University School of Law in St. Louis.

The White House and Trump Organization officials did not respond to requests for comment. A woman who answered the phone at Mar-a-Lago declined to share details about the party with a nonmember and said there was no press office to respond to inquiries.

For some, the New Year’s Eve bash at Mar-a-Lago is the highlight of the Palm Beach social season.

Hundreds of guests attend the red-carpet gala, which begins with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres. Dinner typically involves a four-course meal that ends with a signature dessert — the meringue-topped baked Alaska. One year, the menu was printed on white chocolate.

In 2010, singer Rod Stewart, talk show host Regis Philbin and a Tiger Woods impersonator showed up at the party. Afterward, Trump told the Palm Beach Daily News: “People came up to me to say that the Rod Stewart and Regis impersonators were great but that the Tiger guy was so-so. I don’t think they realized Rod and Regis were the real ones.”

About 500 to 600 guests attended last year’s bash, according to guests. Then-President-elect Trump took the stage to make New Year’s remarks. Donald Trump Jr., whose birthday is New Year’s Eve, danced in a conga line, photos from the event show. Actors Sylvester Stallone and Fabio Lanzoni took photos with guests.

This year, the gala decor, which tended to lean toward the more garish side before Trump ran for president — Las Vegas showgirls, “Moulin Rouge,” ’70s disco theme — will be more muted, sophisticated and fitting for a president.

“There’s a more modern vibe than in the past,” said Steve Levine, co-owner of Jose Graterol Designs of Miami, which is handling the party decor for the fourth year.

This year’s theme is “modern fantasy garden,” with floral patterns and “metallic gold, silver and shades thereof,” he said. It’s a twist on last year’s “more traditional garden” theme, Levine added.

The cover band Party on the Moon will play again, as it has since 2009. The band plays more than 100 songs over four-and-a-half hours, including rock, R&B and pop, said Dennis Smith, the band’s lead guitarist and manager.

“It’s very high-energy music, and people at Mar-a-Lago are really about having a good time. As soon as the doors open, people hit the dance floor,” Smith said.

This year’s event is expected to be bigger than last year’s, with a VIP area being built on top of the stage, according to an employee who helps out with events at the club.

Tickets cost $600 for members and $750 for guests, an increase from last year, as Politico first reported.

Kramer said tickets this year may be hard to come by because members get first dibs.

“I expect most of the members will want to be there. It’s going to be fabulous,” she said, adding that Trump will “be the last one to leave the party, and the first one up in the morning, tweeting. Lucky for us, he doesn’t need a lot of sleep.”

Mar-a-Lago’s New Year’s Eve scene isn’t for everyone, especially as the party has grown bigger and become more high-profile. Billionaire developer Jeff Greene, a club member who has attended the New Year’s Eve event in the past, said he will host a party at one of his own venues this year, instead.

“I don’t like going out with a bunch of strangers,” Greene said.

Plus, there are other, more exclusive parties in town — like the invitation-only bash thrown by the all-male group Palm Beach Coconuts, usually held at the Flagler Museum.

One longtime denizen of ritzy Palm Beach noted to a reporter that Mar-a-Lago was considered new-money and gaudy compared with more venerable clubs in town.

“None of the right people will be there,” she whispered.

3

Hillary making a profit off her presidency... Now that would have been news!

[JMarie]

Repeat after me:  This would never happen if Hillary were president

http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/31/politics/north-korea-trump-mullen-graham/index.html

Quote

The United States is "closer to a nuclear war with North Korea" than ever, Adm. Mike Mullen, a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Sunday, adding that he does not "see the opportunities to solve this diplomatically at this particular point."

In an interview on ABC's "This Week," Mullen warned that President Donald Trump's provocative rhetoric aimed at North Korean leader Kim Jong Un likely indicates he would prefer to take a more aggressive approach to countering the rogue regime's rapidly evolving nuclear weapons program.

"I'm just more inclined to see over time that the rhetoric seems to be where the President is," Mullen said, adding that Defense Secretary James Mattis, national security adviser H.R. McMaster and White House chief of staff John Kelly have managed to deter Trump from following through on his threats of unleashing "fire and fury."

"My concern is how long that actually lasts," Mullen said,adding that, at some point, Trump may be inclined to ignore advice from his top national security advisers that runs counter to his own instincts.

 

[AnywhereButHere]

http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-updates-everything-president-trump-tweets-new-year-s-eve-message-to-1514761215-htmlstory.html

Quote

As our Country rapidly grows stronger and smarter, I want to wish all of my friends, supporters, enemies, haters, and even the very dishonest Fake News Media, a Happy and Healthy New Year. 2018 will be a great year for America!

Caligula, ending his year with his trademark class and style.  

[JMarie]

24 minutes ago, AnywhereButHere said:

http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-updates-everything-president-trump-tweets-new-year-s-eve-message-to-1514761215-htmlstory.html

Caligula, ending his year with his trademark class and style.  

From the tweet's comments:

Quote

MAGA Mueller Ain't Going Away

What a clever Democrat!!!

[onekidanddone]

Happy New Year my FJ political junkie peeps. I'm not really a sentimental sort. I'm a grumpy old curmudgeon. This made me smile

 

[smittykins]

 

[Botkinetti]

Happy 2018 everyone.

As a non American I sometimes hold myself back from posting in the political threads because I realize I have the luxury of being less affected by this demented administration.  I looked forward to Hilary being elected because I couldn’t believe that voters wouldn’t see through trump and all the bullshit he spewed . His statement “ I alone can fix it “ was chilling to me and yet he enthralled his followers.

I thought the threads would slow down and that I would enjoy reading your different opinions on new legislation. In short I never expected the last 15 months to be so batshit crazy. I still read all the linked articles and I thank everyone who posts them. I think the anxiety watching dubiously elected officials do all they can to destroy the country must be enraging and depressing.

I hope the Mueller investigation finds every deep dark secret and we see many orange jumpsuits in 2018.

 

 

 

[Howl]

On 12/30/2017 at 2:43 PM, smittykins said:

Or, to use Little House on the Prairie, no room in the wagon. 

Or, to use John Shrader, no room in the Troopie Truthiness Mobile.

[JMarie]

http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/01/politics/trump-remarks-mar-a-lago-new-years-eve/index.html

Quote

On his first New Year's Eve as President, Trump heralded the accomplishments of his first 12 months in office, but acknowledged it hadn't been easy.

"We're going to have a great 2018. It's going to be something very, very special. It's all kicking in," he said, according to a recording of his remarks obtained by CNN. "We have some pretty good enemies out there, but step by step they're being defeated. They're some bad people. Bad people. But that's ok. Someday maybe they'll love us. I don't know."

It was a characteristically combative way for Trump to welcome the new year. In public and in private, Trump has spent much of his time in office going after those who challenge his decisions or stand in his way.

At his annual New Year's Eve bash, Trump appeared in a festive mood, according to guests who attended. He smiled for photos and shook hands with guests who paid upwards of $750 for a ticket. He even danced — briefly — as a band played Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive."

Is anyone else picturing Elaine's dancing from Seinfeld?

Quote

On New Year's Eve, the President was again among a supportive crowd. In sequins and furs (to protect against the 60-degree chill), guests arrived at around 8 p.m. to enjoy the festivities. Among them: Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and his wife, actress Louise Linton, celebrating in winter white.

In front of Mar-a-Lago's members and guests, Trump made a point to thank some of the wealthiest party-goers, including casino magnate Steve Wynn and Australian billionaire Anthony Pratt. He also reserved special praise for Fox Business host Lou Dobbs, one of Trump's biggest media cheerleaders.

No mention of Hannity.  I guess he wasn't invited.

[fraurosena]

In case anyone needs to know...

 

[GreyhoundFan]

YES: "This new year, tell Trump: Enough"

Spoiler

With New Year’s resolutions and almost everything else in life, it’s essential — and often extremely difficult — to set priorities. This applies especially to politics, now dominated by the provocations and outrages that emanate daily from President Trump and his White House.

In 2018, Trump’s abuses of power, his indifference to truth and his autocratic habits will be the central issues in our politics. Nothing else comes close.

This means there is no more vital business than containing Trump and, if circumstances demand it, removing him from office. This applies not only to progressives and liberals but also to everyone else, from left to right, who would defend our democratic values and republican institutions.

This may sound obvious, but it’s not. Among Democrats, there are often irresistible temptations to fight internal battles in preparation for 2020: Clinton people vs. Bernie people, the center-left vs. the left, the market-friendlies vs. the social democrats and democratic socialists.

These are necessary arguments, and, in any event, they cannot be suppressed. But they are not the most important thing. With special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation under constant threat from Trump’s apologists, solidarity among his opponents is imperative. This is all the more pressing in the face of the Republican leadership’s shameful cowering before a president who is perpetually in search of loyalty and sycophantic praise.

It is a habit of political commentators to say that Democrats “lack a message” and a program. It’s worth mentioning that this has not stopped them from winning a lot of elections, some in unlikely places, over the past few months.

Of course, Democrats must offer a compelling vision of a just country and a coherent approach to the world. They have to be mindful of the complicated and highly diverse coalition they need to build — starting with African Americans but also reaching out to working-class voters of all races who are being hurt by Trump’s policies. Most districts cannot be won without broad, multiracial alliances.

But this is a year of midterm elections, not a contest for the presidency. Voters typically use off-year ballots to render a judgment on a president’s course, particularly when they are unhappy — think 2006, 2010 and 2014. The most effective midterm slogan ever was the GOP’s 1946 plea: “Had Enough? Vote Republican.” With a change in the last word, it would fit the current anti-Trump mood well.

Trump, not some ingenious new policy, will be the issue on voters’ minds, and opposition to him will be the most powerful force pushing voters to the polls. Yes, progressives should talk about Trump policies they would try to check or roll back — beginning with the GOP’s egregious tax giveaway — and work to make their ideas on health care, jobs, infrastructure, the environment and education more persuasive. But the point of 2018 is to meet the emergency this presidency has created.

Let’s not shilly-shally about this. To truly check Trump, Democrats will need to win elections in usually unfriendly territory. As my loyally Republican Post colleague Michael Gerson wrote recently, Republican politicians will abandon Trump only “if they see it as in their self-interest.” For this to happen, they will have “to watch a considerable number of their fellow Republicans lose.”

A campaign in defense of democracy that transcends immediate policy goals will make it easier for moderately conservative voters to do something a lot of them won’t relish: vote for a party they usually shun.

Since electoral politics is about addition rather than subtraction, progressives ought to welcome the anti-Trump conservatives without expecting them to alter all their views. Again, none of this requires the left to abandon its purposes. Many progressive positions on matters from health care and family leave to fairer taxation and workers’ rights are widely popular. The fact that revulsion over Trump has shaken loose many normally Republican voters can be embraced as an opportunity for dialogue and persuasion.

What deserves rebuke is the obsequiousness of the current Republican political leadership toward Trump as well as the indifference of the president’s protectors to the rule of law. Their willingness to pile falsehood upon falsehood in his defense amounts to a war on the basic requirements of reasoned debate in a free society.

Friends of republican democracy are called upon to set aside their differences to resist the corruption of presidential authority, to stand up for truth,and to insist that Trump be held accountable.

The priority of 2018 is for our nation to rise up and say: Enough.

Happy New Year to my fellow Fjers. I hope 2018 is a peaceful a prosperous year for all of us.

[47of74]

I see fornicate face has wasted little time taking to the Twitters in the new year;

Quote

The Iranian people took to the streets last week in protests of a failing economy in the country, but the demonstrations quickly expanded into opposition against the clerical rule of law under President Hassan Rouhani and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Protesters have burned images of the two leaders, with women taking to the streets to remove their hijab as a sign of pushing back against forced oppression through religious fundamentalism.

As 2017 came to a close, the protests spread to dozens of cities in the country, including the capital of Tehran, leading to the Iranian government shutting down access to the internet. Commenting on the issue was Donald Trump during a tweet on January 1.

Taking to Twitter on Monday morning was Donald Trump who attacked the Barack #Obama administration while praising the people of Iran. "Iran is failing at every level despite the terrible deal made with them by the Obama Administration," Trump tweeted. "The great Iranian people have been repressed for many years," he wrote, while listing some of the hardships in the country before concluding "TIME FOR CHANGE!" The Iranian government previously responded to Trump's initial reaction to the protests, as they blasted the White House for speaking out and taking the side of the protesters over the government, especially during a time of civil unrest in the region and around the world.

In an additional tweet, Donald Trump turned his attention to another country in the Middle East, this time setting his sights on Pakistan. "The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years," the president wrote, before stating, "they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools." Trump went on to accuse Pakistan of harboring terrorists in the region and ended by writing, "No more!" As of press time, the Pakistani government have not issued an official response to the president's comments.

Would someone please for the love of all that is holy take his phone away from him and lock down his Twitter account? 

 

[onekidanddone]

2 hours ago, 47of74 said:

The great Iranian people have been repressed for many years

Okay, so is he going to let these 'great Iranian people' into our country if life is so bad for them at home? And when is he going to stop blaming Obama?  He has been in office or almost a year now, and he hasn't 'fixed' everything?

[GreyhoundFan]

A good one from Vanity Fair: "5 Nightmarish Headaches Trump Faces in 2018"

Spoiler

You can read accounts of how Donald Trump’s first year was a success and of how it was a debacle, and, oddly enough, neither genre is preposterous—unless it pretends that Trump did as well as one could have under the circumstances. The self-sabotage of the man continues to astonish because it takes so many new and unexpected forms. Because Trump’s outbursts are unpredictable, so are many of his headaches. (For example, had he not impulsively fired James Comey from the F.B.I., he could have avoided a drawn-out investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller.) But some of his headaches for 2018 can be predicted in advance. Here are five to expect:

1. Democrats will be less open to deal-making.

When Trump got into office, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and other Democrats greeted him with a detailed infrastructure proposal, hoping to split Trump from Republicans and to get something passed on terms more favorable to them. Had Trump taken it up with a counterproposal and reached a compromise, he could have enjoyed praise for a bipartisan moment (one that wouldn’t have bothered his own base), played Santa Claus, and maybe even gotten a few miles of his border wall started. He likewise could have worked with both parties to fix Obamacare and called it “repeal and replace.” Republicans would have been no less eager to do tax reform later.

Now, however, Democrats will be less willing to negotiate. They see the midterm elections coming in November and anticipate winning back the House—possibly, despite long odds, even the Senate. So why not wait to cut a deal until they can get something better? To be sure, Obamacare will need help after the latest tax bill eliminated the coverage mandate, and Trump is hoping Republicans and Democrats will work together on healthcare going forward. But Democrats can still afford to wait on that.

As to be expected in an election year, a primary focus of Democrats this year will be on making Donald Trump and his allies look bad.

2. Robert Mueller sticks around.

According to The Washington Post, people close to the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller say they expect Mueller to keep up his digging for another year. Since the initial indictments so far have been for perjury and business mischief rather than something directly involving Russia, it’s unlikely there’s a lot of fire beneath the smoke (unless George Papadopoulos and Michael Flynn, among others who may have cut a deal with Mueller, have dirt on Trump). Trump and his allies may have done something illegal in their responses to the allegations of fire—and Trump’s business dealings probably offer plenty of sleaze in their own right—but this isn’t the sort of thing a Republican majority will find compelling.

If Mueller wants to get anywhere with making a case against Trump, therefore, he’ll need Democratic majorities in the House and, ideally, the Senate. As long as Mueller is eager to show something for his work, or if he’s filled with outrage over Trump, he has every incentive to move glacially in 2018. Congressional Democrats probably aren’t the only ones who are making calculations with the midterms in mind.

3. Someone has to blink on DACA.

In March, immigrants who came to the United States illegally as children start to lose the protections offered by DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), which Barack Obama formalized by executive action in 2012. Between now and then, both Trump and the Democrats face a moment of brinksmanship, and each side is trying to figure out who has the upper hand.

Trump wants to legalize DACA recipients permanently in exchange for ending what is often called chain migration—meaning migration of not just spouses and kids but also of siblings, parents, cousins, and uncles—and the “diversity visa,” meaning citizenship by lottery for some 50,000 people. He also wants a border wall and further interior enforcement mechanisms such as “E-Verify” employment eligibility checks.

Trump has some advantages. Americans seem generally to support, or at least not oppose, several of his proposals. He also can do with DACA as he pleases. But if pushes too hard and Democrats call his bluff, he could face an outcry over allowing hundreds of thousands of people to go into sudden limbo and become eligible for deportation. And if he doesn’t push hard enough and gets less than, say, two thirds of what he’s asking for, then he alienates his base.

As for Democrats, they know that immigrants tend to vote Democratic, and chain migration has a constituency of support among its growing group of beneficiaries. They know that Trump would look very bad if he started deporting law-abiding young DACA recipients. So they, too, have advantages going in. On the other hand, they might look stubborn if they walk out on a deal that would legalize nearly a million people, and they’re to the left of the median on the issue.

Trump is erratic, and Democrats are uncertain, and the politics are unpredictable. In short: who knows? Either way, it’ll be a challenge.

4. Paul Ryan wants to cut entitlements.

Cutting entitlements has long been an obsession among a sizeable faction of Republicans, and House Speaker Paul Ryan is a sincere believer in the cause. Does Trump want to do this? No. He did not run on it—quite the opposite. But Ryan very much wants to do it. He believes he can harness the Trump tempest to sail the Ryan sloop, and he might be right.

In his own goofy way, Ryan seems to be willing to stake everything getting his priorities accomplished, which is surely a reason why he’s signaling that 2018 will be his last year in office. (It’s ironic, but fortunate, that Ryan’s primary challenger, Paul Nehlen, has unmasked himself as an alt-right lunatic just as he might have had an opening.) Trump would probably love to swat away Paul Ryan, but the speaker of the House holds a lot of cards, and Ryan seems to play them better than people think.

5. Confrontation with Iran and North Korea will be . . . unnerving.

Nikki Haley seems to be leading a charge to ramp up conflict with Iran. She has the support of many hawks on this, including some in the White House. As for Trump himself? Dealmaking usually seems to be his preferred mode, but many of the actions of the White House suggest a laying of groundwork for armed conflict. Perhaps Iran will cause mischief if Trump doesn’t confront it, while a war would kill thousands and destroy Trump’s presidency.

North Korea claims it has become a nuclear power. Trump’s people claim not to believe it. If North Korea is allowed to keep arming up with nuclear weapons, then Japan and South Korea may follow suit. That would be dismaying, but killing millions trying to stop it would also be dismaying.

Those seem to be Trump’s choices on Iran and North Korea, and signs he’ll make the wise ones aren’t all that promising. But let’s pretend they are. For a new year, it’s a better note to start on.

For most of us, Dumpy IS the #1 nightmarish headache we face daily.