Trump

[WaspInWales]

That said, the mid-terms are going to be a real test for both parties. If Trump gets the all clear from the investigations, his approval will probably increase. Whether by then, the Dems have got their shit together, and medicare and medicaid changes have resulted in severe hardship for many could be the tipping point.

If the GOP lose control of both houses, Trump will be well and truly fwcked which will be worth it just for the Twitter tantrums.

However, many voters will only care about their pay packet, tax, military might and all those terrorist immigrants, so if the tax changes pay off for them short term, that could help the extremely fit and healthy POTUS.

[Mikey Brown]

https://www.cnn.com/2018/01/24/politics ... index.html

Stable oratorical genius at work.

I like the bit where requests they make him sound less stupid in the transcript, and that he only sounds stupid because everyone else is stupid and he’s smart.

[morepork]

https://www.cnn.com/2018/01/24/politics ... index.html

Stable oratorical genius at work.

It is getting to the stage where they are going to have to lock him in a room. He is such a fucking dummkopf. Being totally manhandled by the White Knights of Capitol Hill.

[Digby]

Using the same piece of candy trick that Peter and Brian used on James Woods?

[Which Tyler]

"The fact is, you people won't say this but I'll say it. I was a much better candidate than her. You always say she was a bad candidate, you never say I was a good candidate. I was one of the greatest candidates. Nobody else would've beaten the Clinton machine, as crooked as it was. But I was a great candidate. One day you're going to say that."
...

[Mikey Brown]

"The fact is, you people won't say this but I'll say it. I was a much better candidate than her. You always say she was a bad candidate, you never say I was a good candidate. I was one of the greatest candidates. Nobody else would've beaten the Clinton machine, as crooked as it was. But I was a great candidate. One day you're going to say that."
...

...as a response to "how do you define collusion?"

[morepork]

Fuck me, he is furiously fellating Israel.

[Which Tyler]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42829555

Trump is prepared to apologise for retweeting those racist Britain First stuff a few weeks ago.
He hasn't, but he is prepared to... If Piers Morgan tells him that Britain First are bad people... which he already has, along with just about everyone else in Britain

[Digby]

I thought that was weird too. When obviously from the first moment it should have drawn a full apology for acting in ignorance.

In other news Wall Street are getting let off many of their fines as Porno Don works hard to 'drain the swamp'. Oddly one of the banks being forgiven the most is Deutsche Bank who in wholly unconnected news are owed hundreds of millions by Trump, clearly no conflict of interest there.

[morepork]

NYT reports Trump attempted to fire Robert Mueller, but backed down when his own counsel threatened to quit (he doesn't have the stones to do it himself). Fox News calls fake news, then has to retract and admit their own sources confirm the story. The fat Fox News "journalist" has to do an about face on air and quickly cooks some more bullshit to justify Trump doing the thing he said he didn't do not a minute before.

http://uproxx.com/news/fox-news-trump-f ... n-hannity/

[J Dory]

NYT reports Trump attempted to fire Robert Mueller, but backed down when his own counsel threatened to quit (he doesn't have the stones to do it himself). Fox News calls fake news, then has to retract and admit their own sources confirm the story. The fat Fox News "journalist" has to do an about face on air and quickly cooks some more bullshit to justify Trump doing the thing he said he didn't do not a minute before.

http://uproxx.com/news/fox-news-trump-f ... n-hannity/

NY Times bad, so bad, fake news. Oh wait, maybe it did happen, so what, anyway, we'll talk about it tomorrow. Check out this red SUV crash!

Beggars belief.

[morepork]

I know, what a cunt.

That Fox dude looks like a grafting experiment between Dane Coles and Sean Fitzpatrick.

[WaspInWales]

Hannity is something else.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

[Which Tyler]

What a fucking pussy!
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/donald-trump-t ... ts-1656638

Donald Trump is refusing to visit the UK unless Theresa May can ensure that he is not met with protests.

Bloomberg revealed that Trump complained in a phone call to May about the "negative coverage" he has received in the British press.

May told the US president that that was how the UK media operated and she could do little to change it.

Trump went on to say that he would not visit the UK unless there were guarantees that he would not be met with protests.

Advisers who had been listening to the phone call are reported to have been "astonished" at the demands.

The pair are due to meet for bilateral talks at the World Economic Forum in Davos today (25 January).

Trump's complaints and demands are the latest indicator of the increasingly fractious "special" relationship between the UK and US after Trump pulled out of a visit to Britain.

[Digby]

what an absurd demand, even if it were granted it'd prove impossible to enforce

[Which Tyler]

what an absurd demand, even if it were granted it'd prove impossible to enforce

I kinda hope they try, just to prove the point. They'd fail abysmally, with triple the number of protesters there would otherwise have been; and there'd be a new PM within days

[Digby]

what an absurd demand, even if it were granted it'd prove impossible to enforce

I kinda hope they try, just to prove the point. They'd fail abysmally, with triple the number of protesters there would otherwise have been; and there'd be a new PM within days

My mother wants to go on a march if he turns up, and I don't think she's ever marched for anything, certainly not in my lifetime. The numbers that turnout could be much larger than May and Trump are guessing

[Sandydragon]

Common sense deals with it. There is not an impartial economist in the world that will stand by the proposed tax changes. I'm not denying the legitimate claims of the disenfranchised, I am saying that on the strength of evidence, a Trump presidency is worse than anyone could have imagined. Actual damage is being done.

Muddle is how Kiwis say it.

There's probably not an impartial economist in the world, the issue in this being there's no problem with economics other than we're not very good at it and thus any model comes with a laundry list of assumptions. I don't like his tax cut, but a lot of that comes with the start point of assumptions I'd hold.

On the shutdown I happen to think both parties are being daft trying to add on stipulations not connected to a CR for a budget. Pass the budget, or not, and then deal with those issues on immigration and DACA. I also think they should be able to actually pass a budget, and that these continual CR extensions are a pathetic means of governance, and again both parties should be ashamed. This is maybe more on the Republicans given they control both houses of Congress and the Whitehouse, but both parties are not surprisingly playing a lot of politics rather than trying to govern.

Agree about the shutdown. It’s petty nonsense like this which helps ordinary voters to lose faith in politics and vote for anti establishment candidates like Trump.

[Mellsblue]

there'd be a new PM within days

Why?

[Which Tyler]

there'd be a new PM within days

Why?

You think that a PM with no majority in parliament, who's hanging onto her job by the skin of her teeth anyway, who then tries to remove our right to protest is going to stay in office long?

Generally speaking, politicians who are already barely hanging on, who go on to commit political suicide, don't survive long.

How do think she would survive such an act?

[Digby]

there'd be a new PM within days

Why?

Well it looks like there could be, but I'm not sure Trump is the (just under as per the wholly independent doctor) obese straw which breaks the camel's back in all his

[Mellsblue]

there'd be a new PM within days

Why?

You think that a PM with no majority in parliament, who's hanging onto her job by the skin of her teeth anyway, who then tries to remove our right to protest is going to stay in office long?

Generally speaking, politicians who are already barely hanging on, who go on to commit political suicide, don't survive long.

How do think she would survive such an act?

Sorry, misread. I thought you meant a Trump visit with huge protests would lead to a new PM.

If they shut down protest then yep, she wouldn’t last long and I wouldn’t want her to. Free speech is so important.

[Which Tyler]

Fair enough, the misunderstanding seems obvious now you point it out.

Yep, I meant an attempt to shut down the protest would see her out on her ear in double-quick time.

[Digby]

I'd be intrigued to see the basis and process of trying to ban any protests, and what the courts (or enemies of the people) made of that. Tbh I can't see May attempting to touch any ban with a barge pole, though I'm sure there'll be more restrictions than normal given confidential advice of security concerns received by government and the police

[Mikey Brown]

I don’t credit her with much but even she must be aware that basically everyone thinks the pair of them are total dickheads.

I’ve got to say I’ve never protested anything in my life but I feel like that crowd would be worth seeing.