6437

Nobody knew international diplomacy would be this hard!

6438

Life imitating “art”. We have now officially turned the Presidency into a reality TV show, “The Apprentice” and Trump won.

6439
6440

What a scumbag.

6441

Is there a phrase for throwing your own face under the bus?

6442

Can’t help but wonder if this has anything to do with Bannon’s waning status.

6443

What is the Chinese word for cuck?

6444

Wugui. Which, interestingly, also means tortoise.

6445

I am starting to believe these guys that say Trump believe whatever believe the last person that have talked to him are right.

6446

I still wonder why there isn’t someone in the Oval office who is informing the President about the history behind the issues? Shouldn’t there be someone who does that?

6447

I doubt there is, because no one ever thought a primary school teacher would be a necessary White House staff position.

6448

Wouldn’t he have to sit still long enough to be informed about it? Why would he do that when he already knows better than anyone?

6449

Whew! It seems like the lil’ guy is all tuckered out from such a hard week:

I hope he builds his strength back up by eating lots and lots of the delicious Mar-a-Lago food:

6450

What little of the alt-right universe I can stomach peering into is in full panic mode right now. Kushner (Oh no, a Jew!) is obviously winning the war for Trump’s trust over Bannon, and many are blaming that for his sudden reversals on several policy positions. Worse, the Syria strike, while a transparent attempt at boosting poll numbers, is something that directly contradicts the alt-right mantra of “America First”. The fascists are terrified that Kushner and Ivanka (who is said to have counseled her father to move forward with the Syria strike) will push Trump towards the more moderate GOP positions instead of the far right. About the only thing still going well for the far right crowd right now is the deportation thing…and I suspect even that will break down given time and enough media stories about mothers and fathers being deported back to drug cartel land while their children remain in the U.S…

It’s all kinds of awesome to see happening. Bannon was the real wild card in the administration. If he ends up powerless and rejected, America is much better off in the short term. We still have President Trump, which sucks, but without Bannon around he’s likely to do far less long-term damage.

6451

Perhaps the cooks would like to try their hand at preparing fugu this weekend. They seem eminently qualified since the Donald only hires the best, you know.

6452

Exactly. Clinton, Bush, Obama, none of them were experts on all the nuances of foreign policy, the ins and outs of the Departments of the government, or on international law dictating what we can and can’t do in various situations. Nobody expects the President to know everything. That’s why previous Presidents called in experts in various fields and people from past administrations that had experience dealing with these situations, sat down and listened to them extensively. They spent hours and hours being briefed on pertinent information, having multiple scenarios put up for discussion, and basically utilizing every resource at their disposal to come up with the best set of options or reach the best decision they felt they could given the situation.

Trump has zero patience for that. He simply reacts, like a child. He doesn’t take advice, advice is for the weak. Nobody can know more than Trump, if they do, they have power over him, and he can’t stand that. He’s running the Presidency like he runs his company…“My name is on the building, so I call the shots”. It’s ridiculous and unprecedented in Presidential history.

Every time some idiot tells me they voted for Trump because they thought the country should be run more like a business and he’s a successful businessman, I want to punch them in the mouth. Successful businesses are run by large groups of people, from the Board of Directors down to the management groups of the various sub-companies and departments, all of whom rely on tons of data and analysis to make informed decisions. Sounds like a great way to run a country, unless you elect a “businessman” who runs his business as a narcissistic dictatorship and makes decisions himself based on no data at all…which oh yeah, has resulted in how many bankruptcies so far? #PunchInTheMouth

6453

Hmmm, with Russian sanctions lifted as part of the coming together, no doubt?

6454

Well, modern Presidential history anyway.

6455

Trump’s three oldest children — Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric — and Kushner have been frustrated by the impression of chaos inside the White House and feel that their father has not always been served well by his senior staff, according to people with knowledge of their sentiments. The Trump heirs are interested in any changes that might help resuscitate the presidency and preserve the family’s name at a time when they are trying to expand the Trump Organization’s portfolio of hotels.

“The fundamental assessment is that if they want to win the White House in 2020, they’re not going to do it the way they did in 2016, because the family brand would not sustain the collateral damage,” said one well-connected Republican operative, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the president’s family. “It would be so protectionist, nationalist and backward-looking that they’d only be able to build in Oklahoma City or the Ozarks.”

6456

There are people who actually believe Trump has a non-zero chance of winning in 2020? Or that he’ll even still be president that long?