The Trump Administration 2017-

[Poe Dameron]

 

 

Yes... I think the point was going with the next in line that was not elected by political manipulating by Russia. Pence gets the boot because he was on the ballot too.

 

That would take impeachment. I can't imagine that the Congress would impeach and convict someone for merely sharing a ballot with someone who committed crimes, much less a Congress currently controlled by someone of the same party. I'm not even sure what the charge would be. To my knowledge, the whole Russia thing hasn't even touched Pence, so there's really nothing to do with regards to him.

 

And just to note, I'm a bit reluctant to talk about this at all because it absolutely reeks of fever swamp conspiracy theory that is somehow getting mainstream press coverage.

[Marc DuQuesne]

This whole surveillance/Russian meddling dance is getting comical.

 

The reaction of Democrats and what Trump refers to as the "fake media" to the latest Rice revelation is pure gold. "This is just a diversion from the real story, Russian election hacking and Trump collusion". Wasn't the whole "Russia hacked our election" thing just to distract us from the real story? Remember the one about the DNC, the fake media, and the Clinton campaign colluding to influence the outcome of the election (both primaries and the general)?

 

If we liken election meddling to malicious workplace flatulence, the lib block is the person that comes and breaks one loose next to you and then makes of big scene with a "Damn! PHEEEOOO! That's nasty, was that you!?". I haven't figured out if the Russians are crop-dusters or that guy that rats out the projector instead of playing along.

[monkeygirl]

Comical, how? Like all the dead Russian bodies piling up are somehow funny?

[Marc DuQuesne]

I assume you are referring to the terror attack? Too soon for me to find anything remotely related to Russia funny? Your outrage is weak.

[RUAJedi2]

I promised someone that I would publicly admit if Trump did something I support, so here goes. I absolutely 100% agree with his authorization to hit the airfield in Syria from which the chemical attacks were launched. I'm also frankly astounded that Trump went against his bro (no homo!) Putin.

[Carrie Mathison]

Well, only took 77 days for Trump to abandon America-first nationalism and cave in to the globalist neo-cons. I thought he'd last at least 100 days.. but... nope.

 

Hey at least he still differs from Clinton in one respect- the Supreme Court. Good god, can you imagine who Clinton would've nominated? I'm getting shudders just thinking about it.

[Metropolis]

This was a chance for Trump to stick his chest out in the face of Russia. We've been letting stuff like this go for a while. Obama never always backed down. And even W was soft until he had to show some strength.

[Marc DuQuesne]

I think he was looking for an opportunity like this. Unless he wants to get shot, like Reagan did, this is his best chance at building a wider support base.

 

The conspiracy theorist in me is screaming that this chemical weapons attack doesn't add up. Assad would have to be nuts. Then there is the VX attack on Kim Jong-Nam. If I didn't know better I would think someone was trying to start a fire.

[Tex]

I think Assad, much like the world, believed Trump was a Putin puppet and could get away with it his typically horrible shit. Trump was backed into a corner on this one and made the right call. It was simply a reminder of strength, and that's a good thing.

[Ryn]

Well, only took 77 days for Trump to abandon America-first nationalism and cave in to the globalist neo-cons. I thought he'd last at least 100 days.. but... nope.

I think you could tell the way the wind was blowing when he announced increasing the military budget. There isn't any Deep State apparatus deeper than that.

[monkeygirl]

Well, only took 77 days for Trump to abandon America-first nationalism and cave in to the globalist neo-cons. I thought he'd last at least 100 days.. but... nope.

 

Hey at least he still differs from Clinton in one respect- the Supreme Court. Good god, can you imagine who Clinton would've nominated? I'm getting shudders just thinking about it.

Merrick Garland would have been that much of a shock for you?

 

Also, isn't the POTUS supposed to get Congressional approval for this? Why is Trump exempt? And what was so much more horrible about this gassing than anything else Assad has done? Too many questions, including 'how did this airbase function just hours after a bombing?' Did the US REALLY bomb or was this just a show?

[Marc DuQuesne]

We really bombed. Yes, the runway is still intact. Without fuel, munitions and hanger facilities it isn't very useful.

 

It was also a show. Not mutually exclusive.

[Poe Dameron]

Merrick Garland would have been that much of a shock for you?

 

Pfft. His Holiness Saint Garland the "Moderate" would have been dropped the minute Clinton was elected in favor of someone even more extreme and a lot younger.

 

He never was going to get onto the Supreme Court. He wasn't meant to get onto the Supreme Court. His very nomination and the hand-wringing that's come since his nomination has lapsed has been made for pure and shameless political candy.

[monkeygirl]

disagree

[Poe Dameron]

What's to disagree with? You actually think Clinton had any intention of renominating a 64-year-old white guy?

[Carrie Mathison]

Poe's right MG. Garland isn't who the Dems really wanted- he was put out there knowing that the GOP would prevent his confirmation, and then once that happened, the Dems could use him in a martyr-type role and accuse the GOP of being obstructionist. Now whether the GOP did that by refusing to hold a vote (which is what happened), or by a filibuster, was not important to the Dems... either way it happened, it was sorta irrelevant, since the Dems didn't have the votes (which is why I don't understand why the Dems continue to beat this drum- they never had the votes no matter how it went down).

 

In that sense, it was a good move for the Dems, since it gave them a card to play with little risk. They knew the GOP wouldn't actually confirm him, and even if they did, worst case, Garland sits for a decade, so what? Clinton could just stack the court with other liberals, so big deal. (of course, at this point, it looked like the Dems had the election in the bag.. their strategy would've been quite a bit different had they known what was about to happen in November).

 

But Poe's right MG, he was nowhere near the top of the list, he was just playing a role. Garland, while generally left-of-center, is way too moderate on several issues, and on top of that he's a white guy, so none of the SJW boxes get checked off. And on top of even that, he's an old white guy, so the Dems can't get more than maybe 15 years from him.

 

 

Going to your other question (about Congressional approval)- it depends on how broadly you read the War Powers Resolution, and whether you even think that law is constitutional. Not only that, we'd have to discuss the 2001 AUMF passed after 9/11, which has been used as the legal basis for all sorts of actions since then (other than Iraq, which had its own AUMF). I think it can definitely be argued that no current AUMF covers Syria, or at least against Assad's regime, but then again, precedent has been set in the other direction many times before this.. for example, under Clinton you had Kosovo, and under Obama you had Libya. It's a good question whether any of those actions were violations of the War Power Resolution, which itself raises the question of whether that law is even constitutional in the first place.

 

In other words, no easy answer to your question.

[RamonAtila]

I think he was looking for an opportunity like this. Unless he wants to get shot, like Reagan did, this is his best chance at building a wider support base.

 

The conspiracy theorist in me is screaming that this chemical weapons attack doesn't add up. Assad would have to be nuts. Then there is the VX attack on Kim Jong-Nam. If I didn't know better I would think someone was trying to start a fire.

There is no conspiracy. these guys are nuts. They live far away from the states and are surrounded by yes-men. We like to believe that there at home watching CNN eating popcorn but they're not

[Marc DuQuesne]

Eating popcorn and watching CNN? That sounds batchit crazy to me.

 

Lots of them are nuts. Assad never struck me that way. And he may live "far away from the states" but he was educated in London and his wife is from the UK. They were the great hope for reformation less than 10 years ago and all the western countries were singing praises. I understand that desperation is a great motivator, but this strike still struck me as excessively bold for him. There are too many eyes watching and too much shifting political ground. I don't doubt that the attack came from that airfield, I just wonder if it was actually Assad that gave the order. If he didn't that might be far worse.

[Marc DuQuesne]

On CNN, who watches that drivel?

 

Try getting the liberal viewpoint from a liberal who has a clue and doesn't lie to themselves.

 

https://www.csis.org/podcasts/russian-roulette

 

Try the latest podcast. Very informative.

[Ms. Spam]

I'm basically feeling like WW3 may happen or Trump is going to quit soon.

[monkeygirl]

'Poe's right MG. Garland isn't who the Dems really wanted'

 

Did anyone here mention this at the time or is this Monday Morning QB? (No need to link me to proof, just a casual question)

[Poe Dameron]

Did anyone here mention this at the time or is this Monday Morning QB? (No need to link me to proof, just a casual question)

 

Not sure if it was mentioned here or not, but it was a fairly common suggestion last year when it looked like Trump would lose (so most of the year) that Republicans might want to strategically confirm Garland in order to prevent Clinton from nominating someone younger and further to the left.

 

It was also assumed that had Clinton won, Obama would have rescinded the nomination at Clinton's request so that Republicans couldn't rush confirm Garland and prevent that from happening.

[monkeygirl]

Okay-I'm good with this then. Not that big of a deal. The actual nominations and confirmations are but this kind of politicking is pretty normal

[Poe Dameron]

Well, only took 77 days for Trump to abandon America-first nationalism and cave in to the globalist neo-cons. I thought he'd last at least 100 days.. but... nope.

 

It's what you get from a politician whose policy is almost totally based on applause. Like Michael Bay, he figured out that the masses cheer when you make explosions happen.

[Carrie Mathison]

Yeah, pretty much.

 

But the thing of it is, I'm not really against making some explosions happen here and there. In fact, I even started a thread semi-seriously arguing we need to start another world war.

 

What I do have an issue with, is making meaningless explosions happen. Trump campaigned against these sorts of wasteful foreign adventures that don't get us a whole lot, but do cost a ton of money. Now if this really is just a limited strike to re-establish that redline (you know, the one that Obama set and then was like, meh, just kidding), then I guess I'm OK with it.

 

But the problem is, you can see the neo-cons just frothing at the mouth to escalate this to full regime change. If Clinton had been elected, we'd already be there. And I'm just not seeing what's in it for us, as far as the national interest goes. For goodness sake, Syria doesn't even have oil.

 

I can certainly see why it'd be in Israel's interest. Or Saudi Arabia, or maybe Turkey. But last time I checked, we were supposed to be caring about the US interest. Any justification for Syrian regime change usually rests on some fantasy that a Mid East, western friendly democracy is actually possible. You know, the same stupid bullsh-t that was being peddled around during Iraq and the Arab Spring, and was quickly revealed to be basically the dumbest thing ever.

 

I'm OK with starting wars, but I tend to think we should get something out of it besides a useless patch of desert with no resources. As a country we used to understand this, (see, for example, the Mexican War, the Spanish-American War), so I don't know what happened.