Trump's Betrayal of the United States
- Thread starter AGBF
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I wanna marry Pelosi
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I did. I was glad I watched it live.
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What a contrast watching the Pelosi-Schiff conference and then watching Trumps conference yesterday.
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Yup. Adults vs toddlers. The Pelosi / Schiff presser was brilliant. Highlighting legislation and progress while also talking about inquiry. And as usual trump was a petulant child who lied repeatedly.
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Saw on tv trump is now soliciting dirt from China too on his political rivals.
He got on Cspan on tv and did it on live tv. It is clearly against the law to do, and the FEC chair has already said so. he was not kidding.
he was telling the republicans he OWNS them and they won't do anything about it because he is holding pence too and they would have to impeach them both. trump will tear down anyone to keep himself in power.
Now that he is also doing this in the open , .... do republicans now say it is totally legal to solicit other nations to try to find dirt on opponents? What do they say when democrats start trying to jail GOP congressmen or senator children by asking Mexico or Venezuela or India to try to dig something up on them? How about when China makes up charges on republican candidates adult children to discredit or blame a parent for an adult child's behavior? There is no line apparently.
I am so disgusted right now at the republicans who think THIS man should represent them. Those who are willing to throw away anything & to play the " but the other guy did this" so that makes it ok Bull.
I have written my senators and congressman. I hope everyone does the same.
He got on Cspan on tv and did it on live tv. It is clearly against the law to do, and the FEC chair has already said so. he was not kidding.
he was telling the republicans he OWNS them and they won't do anything about it because he is holding pence too and they would have to impeach them both. trump will tear down anyone to keep himself in power.
Now that he is also doing this in the open , .... do republicans now say it is totally legal to solicit other nations to try to find dirt on opponents? What do they say when democrats start trying to jail GOP congressmen or senator children by asking Mexico or Venezuela or India to try to dig something up on them? How about when China makes up charges on republican candidates adult children to discredit or blame a parent for an adult child's behavior? There is no line apparently.
I am so disgusted right now at the republicans who think THIS man should represent them. Those who are willing to throw away anything & to play the " but the other guy did this" so that makes it ok Bull.
I have written my senators and congressman. I hope everyone does the same.
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Potential 2nd whistleblower re: Ukraine, announced according to a NYT piece.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/poli...trumps-ukraine-dealings/ar-AAIiWJo?li=BBnb7Kz
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/poli...trumps-ukraine-dealings/ar-AAIiWJo?li=BBnb7Kz
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When this story broke, it was reported on MSNBC. I am glad you posted it. Apparently this second person has more details about the call, for which we do not have a verbatim transcript (not that I think we need one).
Deb
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Even the far left said Schiff was lying.
https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/politi...his-committee-had-not-spoken-to-whistleblower
https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/politi...his-committee-had-not-spoken-to-whistleblower
I know you do not read, DF, but since you won't find this condensed into a 2 second ranting soundbite on Fox News, maybe try it here?
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/02/us/politics/adam-schiff-whistleblower.html
The basics. The whistleblower initially went through the CIA general counsel. He then became concerned that nothing was happening and his complaint was in danger of being buried, possibly due to the fact that some of the people implicated in the complaint, were the same people investigating it. He went to the committee and they referred him to the ICIG, Michael Atkinson. Under established process, this allows congress to be notified of the existence of a complaint as well as allowing a whistleblower to legally report on classified information. Here is a quote explaining what happened next.
Committee members are allowed to receive classified whistle-blower complaints, they are not allowed to make such complaints public, according to a former official. A complaint forwarded to the committee by the inspector general gives it more latitude over what it can publicize.
By the time the whistle-blower filed his complaint, Mr. Schiff and his staff knew at least vaguely what it contained.
Mr. Schiff, after a private letter and phone call to Mr. Maguire, publicly released a letter seeking the complaint and suggested it could involve Mr. Trump or others in his administration. Mr. Schiff followed up by subpoenaing documents from Mr. Maguire and requesting him to testify before the intelligence panel.
Officials in Mr. Maguire’s office, who did not know the details of the complaint, were puzzled why Mr. Schiff went public right away, eschewing the usual closed-door negotiations.
But letters from the inspector general and Mr. Maguire had made clear to the House Intelligence Committee that the Justice Department and the White House were blocking Mr. Maguire’s office from forwarding the complaint.
The point being, that actual procedures and processes were followed, except for the one where congress is notified of the complaint, which is what kicked this whole thing off.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/02/us/politics/adam-schiff-whistleblower.html
The basics. The whistleblower initially went through the CIA general counsel. He then became concerned that nothing was happening and his complaint was in danger of being buried, possibly due to the fact that some of the people implicated in the complaint, were the same people investigating it. He went to the committee and they referred him to the ICIG, Michael Atkinson. Under established process, this allows congress to be notified of the existence of a complaint as well as allowing a whistleblower to legally report on classified information. Here is a quote explaining what happened next.
Committee members are allowed to receive classified whistle-blower complaints, they are not allowed to make such complaints public, according to a former official. A complaint forwarded to the committee by the inspector general gives it more latitude over what it can publicize.
By the time the whistle-blower filed his complaint, Mr. Schiff and his staff knew at least vaguely what it contained.
Mr. Schiff, after a private letter and phone call to Mr. Maguire, publicly released a letter seeking the complaint and suggested it could involve Mr. Trump or others in his administration. Mr. Schiff followed up by subpoenaing documents from Mr. Maguire and requesting him to testify before the intelligence panel.
Officials in Mr. Maguire’s office, who did not know the details of the complaint, were puzzled why Mr. Schiff went public right away, eschewing the usual closed-door negotiations.
But letters from the inspector general and Mr. Maguire had made clear to the House Intelligence Committee that the Justice Department and the White House were blocking Mr. Maguire’s office from forwarding the complaint.
The point being, that actual procedures and processes were followed, except for the one where congress is notified of the complaint, which is what kicked this whole thing off.
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Commentary: I study liars. I’ve never seen one like Donald Trump.
I spent the first two decades of my career as a social scientist studying liars and their lies. I thought I had developed a sense of what to expect from them. Then along came President Donald Trump…
www.chicagotribune.com
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I think they sleep on piles of dirty Russian bribes.
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Whistle-blowers w/o any whistles...
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Is anyone else still paying attention to this unfolding drama? I am watching the parade of career diplomats testify behind closed doors on Capitol Hill about the chicanery in which Trump has been involved in Ukraine. Yesterday Fiona Hill involved John Bolton in the mess...as someone who opposed Trump's secret dealings with Giuilani.
"Bolton Objected to Ukraine Pressure Campaign, Calling Giuliani ‘a Hand Grenade’"
"WASHINGTON — The effort to pressure Ukraine for political help provoked a heated confrontation inside the White House last summer that so alarmed John R. Bolton, then the national security adviser, that he told an aide to alert White House lawyers, House investigators were told on Monday.
Mr. Bolton got into a tense exchange on July 10 with Gordon D. Sondland, the Trump donor turned ambassador to the European Union, who was working with Rudolph W. Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, to press Ukraine to investigate Democrats, according to three people who heard the testimony.
The aide, Fiona Hill, testified that Mr. Bolton told her to notify the chief lawyer for the National Security Council about a rogue effort by Mr. Sondland, Mr. Giuliani and Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, according to the people familiar with the testimony.
'I am not part of whatever drug deal Sondland and Mulvaney are cooking up,' Mr. Bolton, a Yale-trained lawyer, told Ms. Hill to tell White House lawyers, according to two people at the deposition. (Another person in the room initially said Mr. Bolton referred to Mr. Giuliani and Mr. Mulvaney, but two others said he cited Mr. Sondland.)"
www.nytimes.com
"Bolton Objected to Ukraine Pressure Campaign, Calling Giuliani ‘a Hand Grenade’"
"WASHINGTON — The effort to pressure Ukraine for political help provoked a heated confrontation inside the White House last summer that so alarmed John R. Bolton, then the national security adviser, that he told an aide to alert White House lawyers, House investigators were told on Monday.
Mr. Bolton got into a tense exchange on July 10 with Gordon D. Sondland, the Trump donor turned ambassador to the European Union, who was working with Rudolph W. Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, to press Ukraine to investigate Democrats, according to three people who heard the testimony.
The aide, Fiona Hill, testified that Mr. Bolton told her to notify the chief lawyer for the National Security Council about a rogue effort by Mr. Sondland, Mr. Giuliani and Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, according to the people familiar with the testimony.
'I am not part of whatever drug deal Sondland and Mulvaney are cooking up,' Mr. Bolton, a Yale-trained lawyer, told Ms. Hill to tell White House lawyers, according to two people at the deposition. (Another person in the room initially said Mr. Bolton referred to Mr. Giuliani and Mr. Mulvaney, but two others said he cited Mr. Sondland.)"
Bolton Objected to Ukraine Pressure Campaign, Calling Giuliani ‘a Hand Grenade’ (Published 2019)
John R. Bolton, then the national security adviser, ordered an aide to report the machinations by the president’s personal attorney to a White House lawyer, House investigators were told.
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no one is allowed inside the room. 
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Well, don't get your panties in a bunch over this situation. Turns out it was "strategically brilliant". Trump said so today. 
I guess we lost the puking emoji.
www.theguardian.com
Trump has made America weak, pathetic, untrustworthy and dishonorable.
I guess we lost the puking emoji.
Trump claims Kurds 'no angels' as he boasts of his own 'brilliant' strategy
President’s assertion undercuts US mission to Turkey aimed at urging Erdoğan to halt offensive
www.theguardian.com
Trump has made America weak, pathetic, untrustworthy and dishonorable.
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Please let this be "fake news."
I hope that is photoshopped.....
I have to say biden's son taking easy money from foreign companies may not be technically corrupt but it's not a good look. Of course the trump kids take advantage of their privilege on a whole other level.
Hoping Elizabeth Warren gets a crack at cleaning up this mess....
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omg. this is in several reputable news sources as a legit memo from the president of the united states. appalling on so many levels.
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It is most definitely legitimate. Supposedly Erdogan threw it in his waste basket as soon as he read it. Isn't it wonderful that it will remain part of the historical record?
AGBF
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Wanted to share a fantastic summary of recent events posted to FB by Heather Cox Richardson, a historian & professor at Boston College:
Heather Cox Richardson
14 hours ago
I apologize for the length of today's post, but there is a lot because today it felt like the day the nation shifted. There has been so much unbelievable news that as early as 3:00 I was texting my political friends with just the fire emoji and exclamation marks, but the twists and turns seem to add up to the fact that Trump's firewall is breaking.
Since he declared his candidacy, supporters and undecideds have been able to explain away behaviors by saying they were jokes, or misunderstood, or, if something was really bad, by accepting Trump's own insistence that what had happened was not at all what the media was reporting. But that is no longer possible. Since September 13, we have learned of a plot from the White House to weaken our ally Ukraine in order to force its leader to intervene in our 2020 election. That was bad enough that it led to an impeachment inquiry, and began to crack Trump's support even in the Republican Party. And now, over the course of the past ten days, the profound debacle of our withdrawal from northern Syria, leading to the ethnic cleansing of our former allies, the release of valuable ISIS fighters, and a huge victory for Putin's Russia has ripped away whatever shreds of excuse for Trump's behavior his supporters could still clutch. These two disasters, both entirely of Trump's own making, are reinforcing each other to collapse the Trump presidency with really shocking speed. As that happens, Trump himself is melting down, increasing the momentum of the crisis.
This morning, Trump tried to change the narrative on what had happened in Syria-- a story we all saw as it unfolded after his abrupt October 6 announcement that the US would pull back the troops that were stationed in the Kurdish region of Syria, where the Kurds were fighting ISIS on our behalf. In that announcement, he said that Turkey would be moving into Syria, and that the US would get out of its way. There was an instantaneous bipartisan outcry that we would be risking the release of thousands of ISIS prisoners, and abandoning our allies, who would likely be slaughtered. As this happened just as predicted, Trump tried to change the story. He has said that he didn't green light the incursion (I will attach the press release and you can see what you think), that the Kurds were deliberately releasing ISIS prisoners, and this morning told reporters that what was happening in the Middle East had nothing to do with the US, and that the Kurds, who lost 11,000 soldiers fighting for us against ISIS, were "no angels." He also voiced something previously kept secret: we currently have 50 nuclear weapons in Turkey, which is obviously something of enormous concern as we are now at odds.
Then, midday, news broke that Trump had cancelled a briefing for congressional leaders on the Syrian situation, saying that things there were "nicely under control." This was too much for Congress to stomach, and this afternoon, the House overwhelmingly, by a vote of 354 to 60, passed a bipartisan resolution (129 Republicans voted for it) condemning Trump's actions in Syria and asking what his "clear and specific plan" was for combatting ISIS. Trump supporters Senators Lindsay Graham, Mitch McConnell, and Marco Rubio also expressed dismay over the president's actions in Syria.
After the vote, the White House invited congressional leaders to meet with Trump. There, they asked what his plan for Syria was, and the conversation went poorly. Apparently, Trump attacked his former Secretary of Defense James Mattis as weak and claimed that he alone-- Trump-- had won victory over ISIS. He said that Turkey and Syria would fight ISIS, but his advisors admitted there was no sign they were actually going to do it. And Trump refused to engage with the reality that Russia has now swept into Syria, taking positions there that had been ours hours before (and making propaganda videos about it). When Pelosi said he had given Putin the foothold in the Middle East he had always wanted, and then followed it up with "All roads with you lead to Putin," Trump blew up. He said such insulting things to the Speaker of the House-- who is, after all, the primary representative of the American people-- the Democratic leaders walked out. They went straight to waiting cameras, where the men expressed shock at Trump's attack on the House speaker, but Pelosi herself emphasized that the president was taken aback by such a dramatic rebuke by Republicans in Congress (129 of them voted for the resolution). She also noted that Trump is not well.
Love her or hate her, Pelosi is a masterful politician, and she called this exactly right. The Syrian crisis has provided a clear issue around which people turning against Trump can coalesce. It is now clear that there has been growing concern among career diplomats for months that Trump and his people have been using the State Department to spur foreign attacks on Democrats at home. The whistleblower complaint about Trump's July 25 phone call with Ukraine president Zelensky that came to light on September 13 was the first inkling of this, but since then, there has been such a flood of alarming information the whistleblower complaint has been eclipsed. Career state department officials-- Marie Yovanovitch, Fiona Hill, George Kent, and today, Michael McKinley-- have bucked the White House embargo on testimony to add details to the story of a shadow foreign policy run by Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuilani and Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, along with special envoy Kurt Volker, and facilitated by acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, to pressure Ukraine leaders to smear Joe Biden's son Hunter. In May, Mulvaney allegedly put together the "three amigos:" Sondland, Volker, and Energy Secretary Rick Perry to take over Ukraine policy from career diplomats.
With the arrest last week of Igor Fruman and Lev Parnas (fyi, I can't keep all these names straight either) we learned that the story was even deeper: these men were funneling money from Russian oligarchs to GOP politicians, while trying to cement control over Ukraine's gas industry. Another person named in the indictment, David Correia, was arrested today at JFK airport. We have also learned that Rudy Giuliani is, and has been, under federal counterintelligence investigation, suggesting that the FBI thinks he might be actively working for a foreign country.
The story of Syria, and that the domestic story is getting so bad that people are defying Trump, has cracked open the wall that has protected the president. People are heading for the exits. Last night, news broke that a federal appeals court has reopened a case charging Trump with violating the Constitution's emoluments clause and profiting illegally from his hotels while in office. Today, we learned that there are major discrepancies between Trump's taxes and bank records for loans, suggesting he might well have committed tax or bank fraud. Then Time Magazine published a piece by David Schulkin, Trump's first Secretary of Veteran's Affairs, presenting his interview for the job as virtually a Saturday Night Live skit, to which he compared it in the piece.
Pelosi is right: Trump is spooked by his collapsing power. In a desperate attempt for good press, Trump today tried to manufacture a win on social media by trying to resolve an emotional international incident before cameras. On August 27, the wife of a US diplomat in the UK, driving on the wrong side of the road, struck and killed a young man coming her way on a motorcycle. Citing diplomatic immunity-- the law that protects diplomats from being prosecuted for crimes in foreign countries-- the woman took refuge from the UK's justice system by returning to America. The man's parents, along with the British government, have appealed for the US government to waive her diplomatic immunity and return her for a trial. The man's parents are in the US to press for her return, and Trump invited them to the White House. Unbeknownst to them, he had the woman who had killed their son waiting in an adjoining room to meet with them in front of cameras. They declined, later saying they had been "ambushed." Rather than looking like a peacemaker, Trump looked like someone trying to use parents suffering from the death of their son for a photo-op.
After a day of disastrous news and the meeting with congressional leaders, Trump tried tonight to look calm, and to spin the walkout as Pelosi's meltdown rather than his. He tweeted out a picture showing Pelosi standing up to him while he was seated at a table surrounded by advisors. But the body language of the men around Trump was startling: they are slumped, staring at their folded hands. It was an astonishing self-own, followed up by worse. To demonstrate that he had, in fact, been hard on Turkish President Erdogan rather than green lighting his attack on the Kurds, Trump released to Fox News personality Trish Regan a letter he allegedly wrote on October 9, the day Turkish troops crossed into Syria and began to slaughter the Kurds. "Let's work out a good deal!" he wrote to Erdogan, and then went on to conclude: "Don't be a tough guy. Don't be a fool!.... I will call you later." The letter was so wildly inappropriate reporters had to check to make sure it was not a parody. But the White House verified it.
For their part, White House spokespeople insist that Trump is calm and in control. Tonight, he resurrected complaints about Hillary Clinton,'s emails and echoed Pelosi's observations about him, tweeting that "Nancy Pelosi needs help fast! There is either something wrong with her “upstairs,” or she just plain doesn’t like our great Country. She had a total meltdown in the White House today. It was very sad to watch. Pray for her, she is a very sick person!"
I have spent more than 30 years studying political history, and I have nothing to which to compare the craziness of today. I have no idea what will happen in the hours after I hit the send button. But it does feel like the political tide is turning.
Heather Cox Richardson
14 hours ago
I apologize for the length of today's post, but there is a lot because today it felt like the day the nation shifted. There has been so much unbelievable news that as early as 3:00 I was texting my political friends with just the fire emoji and exclamation marks, but the twists and turns seem to add up to the fact that Trump's firewall is breaking.
Since he declared his candidacy, supporters and undecideds have been able to explain away behaviors by saying they were jokes, or misunderstood, or, if something was really bad, by accepting Trump's own insistence that what had happened was not at all what the media was reporting. But that is no longer possible. Since September 13, we have learned of a plot from the White House to weaken our ally Ukraine in order to force its leader to intervene in our 2020 election. That was bad enough that it led to an impeachment inquiry, and began to crack Trump's support even in the Republican Party. And now, over the course of the past ten days, the profound debacle of our withdrawal from northern Syria, leading to the ethnic cleansing of our former allies, the release of valuable ISIS fighters, and a huge victory for Putin's Russia has ripped away whatever shreds of excuse for Trump's behavior his supporters could still clutch. These two disasters, both entirely of Trump's own making, are reinforcing each other to collapse the Trump presidency with really shocking speed. As that happens, Trump himself is melting down, increasing the momentum of the crisis.
This morning, Trump tried to change the narrative on what had happened in Syria-- a story we all saw as it unfolded after his abrupt October 6 announcement that the US would pull back the troops that were stationed in the Kurdish region of Syria, where the Kurds were fighting ISIS on our behalf. In that announcement, he said that Turkey would be moving into Syria, and that the US would get out of its way. There was an instantaneous bipartisan outcry that we would be risking the release of thousands of ISIS prisoners, and abandoning our allies, who would likely be slaughtered. As this happened just as predicted, Trump tried to change the story. He has said that he didn't green light the incursion (I will attach the press release and you can see what you think), that the Kurds were deliberately releasing ISIS prisoners, and this morning told reporters that what was happening in the Middle East had nothing to do with the US, and that the Kurds, who lost 11,000 soldiers fighting for us against ISIS, were "no angels." He also voiced something previously kept secret: we currently have 50 nuclear weapons in Turkey, which is obviously something of enormous concern as we are now at odds.
Then, midday, news broke that Trump had cancelled a briefing for congressional leaders on the Syrian situation, saying that things there were "nicely under control." This was too much for Congress to stomach, and this afternoon, the House overwhelmingly, by a vote of 354 to 60, passed a bipartisan resolution (129 Republicans voted for it) condemning Trump's actions in Syria and asking what his "clear and specific plan" was for combatting ISIS. Trump supporters Senators Lindsay Graham, Mitch McConnell, and Marco Rubio also expressed dismay over the president's actions in Syria.
After the vote, the White House invited congressional leaders to meet with Trump. There, they asked what his plan for Syria was, and the conversation went poorly. Apparently, Trump attacked his former Secretary of Defense James Mattis as weak and claimed that he alone-- Trump-- had won victory over ISIS. He said that Turkey and Syria would fight ISIS, but his advisors admitted there was no sign they were actually going to do it. And Trump refused to engage with the reality that Russia has now swept into Syria, taking positions there that had been ours hours before (and making propaganda videos about it). When Pelosi said he had given Putin the foothold in the Middle East he had always wanted, and then followed it up with "All roads with you lead to Putin," Trump blew up. He said such insulting things to the Speaker of the House-- who is, after all, the primary representative of the American people-- the Democratic leaders walked out. They went straight to waiting cameras, where the men expressed shock at Trump's attack on the House speaker, but Pelosi herself emphasized that the president was taken aback by such a dramatic rebuke by Republicans in Congress (129 of them voted for the resolution). She also noted that Trump is not well.
Love her or hate her, Pelosi is a masterful politician, and she called this exactly right. The Syrian crisis has provided a clear issue around which people turning against Trump can coalesce. It is now clear that there has been growing concern among career diplomats for months that Trump and his people have been using the State Department to spur foreign attacks on Democrats at home. The whistleblower complaint about Trump's July 25 phone call with Ukraine president Zelensky that came to light on September 13 was the first inkling of this, but since then, there has been such a flood of alarming information the whistleblower complaint has been eclipsed. Career state department officials-- Marie Yovanovitch, Fiona Hill, George Kent, and today, Michael McKinley-- have bucked the White House embargo on testimony to add details to the story of a shadow foreign policy run by Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuilani and Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, along with special envoy Kurt Volker, and facilitated by acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, to pressure Ukraine leaders to smear Joe Biden's son Hunter. In May, Mulvaney allegedly put together the "three amigos:" Sondland, Volker, and Energy Secretary Rick Perry to take over Ukraine policy from career diplomats.
With the arrest last week of Igor Fruman and Lev Parnas (fyi, I can't keep all these names straight either) we learned that the story was even deeper: these men were funneling money from Russian oligarchs to GOP politicians, while trying to cement control over Ukraine's gas industry. Another person named in the indictment, David Correia, was arrested today at JFK airport. We have also learned that Rudy Giuliani is, and has been, under federal counterintelligence investigation, suggesting that the FBI thinks he might be actively working for a foreign country.
The story of Syria, and that the domestic story is getting so bad that people are defying Trump, has cracked open the wall that has protected the president. People are heading for the exits. Last night, news broke that a federal appeals court has reopened a case charging Trump with violating the Constitution's emoluments clause and profiting illegally from his hotels while in office. Today, we learned that there are major discrepancies between Trump's taxes and bank records for loans, suggesting he might well have committed tax or bank fraud. Then Time Magazine published a piece by David Schulkin, Trump's first Secretary of Veteran's Affairs, presenting his interview for the job as virtually a Saturday Night Live skit, to which he compared it in the piece.
Pelosi is right: Trump is spooked by his collapsing power. In a desperate attempt for good press, Trump today tried to manufacture a win on social media by trying to resolve an emotional international incident before cameras. On August 27, the wife of a US diplomat in the UK, driving on the wrong side of the road, struck and killed a young man coming her way on a motorcycle. Citing diplomatic immunity-- the law that protects diplomats from being prosecuted for crimes in foreign countries-- the woman took refuge from the UK's justice system by returning to America. The man's parents, along with the British government, have appealed for the US government to waive her diplomatic immunity and return her for a trial. The man's parents are in the US to press for her return, and Trump invited them to the White House. Unbeknownst to them, he had the woman who had killed their son waiting in an adjoining room to meet with them in front of cameras. They declined, later saying they had been "ambushed." Rather than looking like a peacemaker, Trump looked like someone trying to use parents suffering from the death of their son for a photo-op.
After a day of disastrous news and the meeting with congressional leaders, Trump tried tonight to look calm, and to spin the walkout as Pelosi's meltdown rather than his. He tweeted out a picture showing Pelosi standing up to him while he was seated at a table surrounded by advisors. But the body language of the men around Trump was startling: they are slumped, staring at their folded hands. It was an astonishing self-own, followed up by worse. To demonstrate that he had, in fact, been hard on Turkish President Erdogan rather than green lighting his attack on the Kurds, Trump released to Fox News personality Trish Regan a letter he allegedly wrote on October 9, the day Turkish troops crossed into Syria and began to slaughter the Kurds. "Let's work out a good deal!" he wrote to Erdogan, and then went on to conclude: "Don't be a tough guy. Don't be a fool!.... I will call you later." The letter was so wildly inappropriate reporters had to check to make sure it was not a parody. But the White House verified it.
For their part, White House spokespeople insist that Trump is calm and in control. Tonight, he resurrected complaints about Hillary Clinton,'s emails and echoed Pelosi's observations about him, tweeting that "Nancy Pelosi needs help fast! There is either something wrong with her “upstairs,” or she just plain doesn’t like our great Country. She had a total meltdown in the White House today. It was very sad to watch. Pray for her, she is a very sick person!"
I have spent more than 30 years studying political history, and I have nothing to which to compare the craziness of today. I have no idea what will happen in the hours after I hit the send button. But it does feel like the political tide is turning.
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Former Bush press secretary blasts Trump's 'foolish, unseemly' decision to hold G7 summit at his golf resort
The latest Speed Read,/speed-reads,,speed-reads, breaking news, comment, reviews and features from the experts at The Week
theweek.com
In other news.....
We've turned into our own caricature.
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Great read @JPie. Let hope the tide is finally turning.
I’d be interested to hear how @redwood66 views the development with Turkey and the Kurds and Trump’s handling of the situation.
I’d be interested to hear how @redwood66 views the development with Turkey and the Kurds and Trump’s handling of the situation.
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Nope, you wouldn't. My kid is heading out to the desert for Operation Counterterrorism and I will not be voicing any view here on this issue.
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Sending you and your family prayers, redwood
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Did You Miss the March 2024 Jewels of the Weeks?
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