President Trump

[kevinswatch]

Blame the liberals and the media all you want. They don't control Trump's Twitter account.

-jay

[Zarathustra]

His Twitter account won't be his downfall.

[Hashi Lebwohl]

Comey testified to Congress that no one had ever interfered with or tried to stop his investigation. Either the memo is fake news, or Comey lied to Congress.

Then Congress should bring him back again, subpoena everything, and ask him one more time. If no such memo exists in his collected paperwork and his answers align with his answers from previous testimony then we know that there is nothing to this story.

I agree--Trump has no filter on his Twitter account and it will help bring about his downfall. He essentially threatened Comey with that whole "better hope there aren't tapes" tweet. The likelihood that Trump gets someone to second-guess him before he tweets something is, in my opinion, zero--his ego is too large.

On the other hand, apparently many Democrats have to take polls to see if "impeach Trump" rates as something positive with voters. They are too scared to push for it and have it fail because then they will be seen as only wanting to go for the other side's throat to score political points (which is probably true for some of them).

[Avatar]

Probably for many of them.

--A

[Hashi Lebwohl]

The reason this whole "Russia thing" has spiraled out of control is because Trump mismanaged it from the start. Flynn told the transition team that he was secretly under investigation for being a paid lobbyist for Turkey during last year's campaign and yet they hired him anyway. Once he got his job national security advisor he rejected a military plan specifically because Turkey disagreed with it; Trump later reversed that decision. The man should never have been hired on in any capacity in the first place.

I do not disagree with the idea that running the White House as if it were a corporation could work; however, it appears that Trump's management style is not a good fit for politics. Fostering an atmosphere of fierce competition among employees (staffers, in this case) in an effort to increase creativity so that the best team wins what is happening is that people are starting to rat each other out and looking to save their own hides.

Some people might suggest that the Trump Administration is planning all this stuff, that they are engaged in a campaign of trolling the media to keep their detractors off-balance. Rather than spending all that creativity trolling the media why don't they just present themselves as a sharp, well-oiled machine which hums along and pursues its stated agenda? That would be more logical.

[Brinn]

Trump's biggest problem, I believe, is that he's simply not a very smart man and he's too set in his ways to learn anything. He also appears to be very susceptible to manipulation as he is way too concerned with image and standing.

[Zarathustra]

Brinn, I agree with everything except the "not very smart." I think his biggest "problem" is his achievement, success, business acumen, etc. It's not that he isn't smart, it's that he has too high an opinion of himself, based on his own record. That alone can account for the other things you've listed. It's hubris and narcissism, not stupidity.

[peter]

I think in many ways he is defensive in his behaviour; it's like he thinks people expect him to fail - and he's right, they do! He puts on a front of tough guy indifference, but everything else about him tells you it's bullshit. He needs to be liked - too much I'm afraid.

[Avatar]

Brinn, I agree with everything except the "not very smart." I think his biggest "problem" is his achievement, success, business acumen, etc. It's not that he isn't smart, it's that he has too high an opinion of himself, based on his own record. That alone can account for the other things you've listed. It's hubris and narcissism, not stupidity.

But maybe ignorance (which is different from stupidity).

--A

[Ur Dead]

Trump would be considered narcissistic. I have no doubt. It develops over time
while he ran his business. With Trump it's WYSIWYG. Now add that he can't fire Congress and all his movements are under constant scrutiny. He will have to
change if he's going to play the Games of Washington. A hybrid between his business attitude and the politics. His business mojo is tops, his political savvy
is wandering in the desert. He doesn't need to combine them he needs to change them to aquire the ideas he wants to implement.

As bad as people say he is the other was worse.

[Zarathustra]

Harvard study proves that mainstream media is biased against Trump

As I've been saying, some media outlets are reporting negatively against Trump at a percentage rate in the high 90s. Only Fox News--true to their motto--comes close to balanced coverage, with 52% negative and 48% positive reporting about Trump.

93% negative reporting by some of the biggest media outlets is not journalism. That's media character assassination.

[kevinswatch]

Boo hoo. Trump doesn't like how the media portrays him? Then he should stop acting like a child on Twitter.

He's 100% responsible for the things he says. He can whine and complain as much as he likes, but he's dug his own grave. So much of the negative press could be prevented if he just shut up already. 99% of what the media reports is just reacting to whatever he said last on Twitter.

Trump's biggest problem, I believe, is that he's simply not a very smart man and he's too set in his ways to learn anything. He also appears to be very susceptible to manipulation as he is way too concerned with image and standing.

Spoken for truth, as they say.

-jay

[Rawedge Rim]

Harvard study proves that mainstream media is biased against Trump

As I've been saying, some media outlets are reporting negatively against Trump at a percentage rate in the high 90s. Only Fox News--true to their motto--comes close to balanced coverage, with 52% negative and 48% positive reporting about Trump.

93% negative reporting by some of the biggest media outlets is not journalism. That's media character assassination.

maybe so, but President GW Bush was treated pretty shabbily by the press, and he got by. Time for President Trump to put on his big boy pants.

[Zarathustra]

99% of what the media reports is just reacting to whatever he said last on Twitter.

That's a bold claim. Do you have a Harvard study to back up your point, like I did? Or are you just pulling a number out of thin air?

Much of the what media is reporting comes from illegal leaks emerging from anti-Trump forces within the intelligence community. The media and the "deep state" are colluding to bring down a President whom they don't like. And your response is "boo hoo"?

Some part of you must recognize that this is wrong. I can't believe that honest, reasonable Americans are this glib about the utter abandonment of even the pretense of objectivity in our press.

Can we all admit now that the press is just an extension of the Democratic Party? It's the PR wing of the DNC, with whom they colluded, remember, to undermine our electoral process in 2016. Forget the Russians ... it is the Democratic Party that is working hardest to undermine our democratic process. Shutting down speech, advocating the banning of conservative websites, cheering illegal leaks that suit their purpose, and being utterly dismissive at PROOF that the mainstream media is corrupt ... these are the charges we've been alleging for years, and now it's just worthy of shrug? When did we come to this? When did the Left lose its shame at the prospect of being uninterested in objectivity, civility, and the law? I don't even know if you guys recognize it in yourselves, the complete change you've undergone to become what you once hated. We used to have threads about how Fox News was biased, how we feared conservatives would resort to violence, how free speech was being threatened, how illegal leaks were a threat to our security and democracy. These things used to provoke anger and outrage among the Left. Now you've embraced them without a look back.

[kevinswatch]

Pulled that number completely out of thin air. You can call it "pulling a Trump" if you will.

They don't control his own words and actions. I repeat, booo hooo. He only has himself to blame if people aren't going to be sympathetic to him.

Again with the liberals and DEMs. Always to blame. The last I checked the GOP was in control of every part of our government (literally). The buck stops there.

I'm pretty sure all of us here are independent thinkers and have come to our conclusions of Trump without some "corrupt" media swaying us.

-jay

[Hashi Lebwohl]

They don't control his own words and actions. I repeat, booo hooo. He only has himself to blame if people aren't going to be sympathetic to him.

From the New York Times:

WASHINGTON--President Trump told Russian officials in the Oval Office this month that firing the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, had relieved "great pressure" on him, according to a document summarizing the meeting.

"I just fired the head of the F.B.I. He was crazy, a real nut job," Mr. Trump said, according to the document, which was read to The New York Times by an American official. "I faced great pressure because of Russia. That's taken off."

Mr. Trump added, "I'm not under investigation."

The conversation, during a May 10 meeting--the day after he fired Mr. Comey--reinforces the notion that Mr. Trump dismissed him primarily because of the bureau's investigation into possible collusion between his campaign and Russian operatives. Mr. Trump said as much in one televised interview, but the White House has offered changing justifications for the firing.

The White House document that contained Mr. Trump's comments was based on notes taken from inside the Oval Office and has been circulated as the official account of the meeting. One official read quotations to The Times, and a second official confirmed the broad outlines of the discussion.

There is nothing quite like throwing around personal insults about someone who isn't present in the room to show how mature you are. Of course, we should all just forget about it since Trump decided on his own that "this Russia thing" is "a made-up story".

The media is supposed to be hostile to a governmental leader and/or the party in power. If they aren't hostile then they are nothing more than the Federal Department of Reeducation.

My other problem with Trump is that he eats ketchup on his steak. Ketchup. On steak. On purpose. *shudder*

[kevinswatch]

They don't control his own words and actions. I repeat, booo hooo. He only has himself to blame if people aren't going to be sympathetic to him.

From the New York Times:

WASHINGTON--President Trump told Russian officials in the Oval Office this month that firing the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, had relieved "great pressure" on him, according to a document summarizing the meeting.

"I just fired the head of the F.B.I. He was crazy, a real nut job," Mr. Trump said, according to the document, which was read to The New York Times by an American official. "I faced great pressure because of Russia. That's taken off."

Mr. Trump added, "I'm not under investigation."

The conversation, during a May 10 meeting--the day after he fired Mr. Comey--reinforces the notion that Mr. Trump dismissed him primarily because of the bureau's investigation into possible collusion between his campaign and Russian operatives. Mr. Trump said as much in one televised interview, but the White House has offered changing justifications for the firing.

The White House document that contained Mr. Trump's comments was based on notes taken from inside the Oval Office and has been circulated as the official account of the meeting. One official read quotations to The Times, and a second official confirmed the broad outlines of the discussion.

There is nothing quite like throwing around personal insults about someone who isn't present in the room to show how mature you are. Of course, we should all just forget about it since Trump decided on his own that "this Russia thing" is "a made-up story".

The media is supposed to be hostile to a governmental leader and/or the party in power. If they aren't hostile then they are nothing more than the Federal Department of Reeducation.

My other problem with Trump is that he eats ketchup on his steak. Ketchup. On steak. On purpose. *shudder*

Well said.

-jay

[Zarathustra]

The media is supposed to be hostile to the President? Someone should have told them that during Obama's 8 years. Back then, being "hostile" was the same as being "racist." Rush Limbaugh--a purveyor of political commentary, NOT journalism--was lambasted for saying he hoped Obama would fail. Now, the media is openly, actively attempting to destroy Trump, and we're supposed to think this is their job???

I think it's fine in the op-ed section for pundits to be negative if they want. But there is no room for bias in straight reporting. Why shouldn't people also be told about the good things that are happening (e.g. the economy)? Why should the coverage be dominated by his enemies?

From the same NYT article:

Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, did not dispute the account.
In a statement, he said that Mr. Comey had put unnecessary pressure on the president's ability to conduct diplomacy with Russia on matters such as Syria, Ukraine and the Islamic State.

"By grandstanding and politicizing the investigation into Russia's actions, James Comey created unnecessary pressure on our ability to engage and negotiate with Russia," Mr. Spicer said. "The investigation would have always continued, and obviously, the termination of Comey would not have ended it. Once again, the real story is that our national security has been undermined by the leaking of private and highly classified conversations."

...

A third government official briefed on the meeting defended the president, saying Mr. Trump was using a negotiating tactic when he told Mr. Lavrov about the "pressure" he was under. The idea, the official suggested, was to create a sense of obligation with Russian officials and to coax concessions out of Mr. Lavrov - on Syria, Ukraine and other issues - by saying that Russian meddling in last year's election had created enormous political problems for Mr. Trump.

The daily leaks coming from inside his administration and the intelligence community are undermining Trump's ability to be the President. In this example, they are hurting his ability to negotiate and engage in diplomacy with foreign governments. This is undermining our country from the inside--far more damaging than the Russians giving us a peak into the DNC's email server.

[Hashi Lebwohl]

Yes, it is their job to antagonize the President. It isn't my fault that the media didn't do their job during Obama's two terms.

If the leaks are coming from within his Administration then she should fire everyone and hire a completely new team. If not, then he needs to figure out how to deal with it. Maybe there wouldn't be leaks from the intelligence community if he had not thrown them under the bus first.

That being said, the right leak being leaked on purpose can help spin a story back to being under control.

[Wosbald]

+JMJ+

Rosenstein Joins the Posse

"With the stroke of a pen, Rod Rosenstein redeemed his reputation," writes Dana Milbank of The Washington Post.

What had Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein done to be welcomed home by the Post like the prodigal son?

Without consulting the White House, he sandbagged President Trump, naming a special counsel to take over the investigation of the Russia connection that could prove ruinous to this presidency.

[…]

Regarded as able and honest, Mueller will be under media pressure to come up with charges. Great and famous prosecutors are measured by whom they convict and how many scalps they take.

Moreover, a burgeoning special counsel's office dredging up dirt on Trump and associates will find itself the beneficiary of an indulgent press.

Why did Rosenstein capitulate to a Democrat-media clamor for a special counsel that could prove disastrous for the president who elevated and honored him?

Surely in part, as Milbank writes, to salvage his damaged reputation.

After being approved 94-6 by a Senate that hailed him as a principled and independent U.S. attorney for both George Bush and Barack Obama, Rosenstein found himself being pilloried for preparing the document White House aides called crucial to Trump's decision to fire Comey.

Rosenstein had gone over to the dark side. He had, it was said, on Trump's orders, put the hit on Comey. Now, by siccing a special counsel on the president himself, Rosenstein is restored to the good graces of this city. Rosenstein just turned in his black hat for a white hat.

Democrats are hailing both his decision to name a special counsel and the man he chose. Yet it is difficult to exaggerate the damage he has done. …