Thursday, July 20, 2017

Here is some of that absolutely incredible interview that the New York Times conducted with Donald Trump. (Including audio.)

Here are some excerpts courtesy of the New York Times:

President Trump said on Wednesday that he never would have appointed Attorney General Jeff Sessions had he known Mr. Sessions would recuse himself from overseeing the Russia investigation that has dogged his presidency, calling the decision “very unfair to the president.”

In a remarkable public break with one of his earliest political supporters, Mr. Trump complained that Mr. Sessions’s decision ultimately led to the appointment of a special counsel that should not have happened. “Sessions should have never recused himself, and if he was going to recuse himself, he should have told me before he took the job and I would have picked somebody else,” Mr. Trump said.


“Jeff Sessions takes the job, gets into the job, recuses himself, which frankly I think is very unfair to the president,” he added. “How do you take a job and then recuse yourself? If he would have recused himself before the job, I would have said, ‘Thanks, Jeff, but I’m not going to take you.’ It’s extremely unfair — and that’s a mild word — to the president.”


Why is he talking about himself in the third person?

It should be noted here that Sessions recused himself only after it was revealed that he lied about meeting with Russians during his confirmation hearing.

The real question for Trump should be why did he choose an Attorney General with ties to Russia, and then extrapolate that out further to ask why virtually EVERYBODY working on his campaign and now within his administration have ties to Russia?

Speaking of Russia this is how Trump characterized his meeting with Putin during the G20 Summit: 

Describing a newly disclosed informal conversation he had with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia during a dinner of world leaders in Germany this month, Mr. Trump said they talked for about 15 minutes, mostly about “pleasantries.” But Mr. Trump did say that they talked “about adoption.” Mr. Putin banned American adoptions of Russian children in 2012 after the United States enacted sanctions on Russians accused of human rights abuses, an issue that remains a sore point in relations with Moscow.

Mr. Trump acknowledged that it was “interesting” that adoptions came up since his son, Donald Trump Jr., said that was the topic of a meeting he had with several Russians with ties to the Kremlin during last year’s campaign. Even though emails show that the session had been set up to pass along incriminating information about Hillary Clinton, the president said he did not need such material from Russia about Mrs. Clinton last year because he already had more than enough.

Of course as we know "adoptions" is code for "sanctions," and I am amazed that Trump is actually using Russian talking points so blatantly since everybody knows for a fact what that meeting between Junior and the Russians was all about.

It is almost as if he assumes that nobody reads.

Then the subject turned to James Comey:  

Mr. Trump recalled that a little more than two weeks before his inauguration, Mr. Comey and other intelligence officials briefed him at Trump Tower on Russian meddling. Mr. Comey afterward pulled Mr. Trump aside and told him about a dossier that had been assembled by a former British spy filled with salacious allegations against the incoming president, including supposed sexual escapades in Moscow. The F.B.I. has not corroborated the most sensational assertions in the dossier. 

In the interview, Mr. Trump said he believed Mr. Comey told him about the dossier to implicitly make clear he had something to hold over the president. “In my opinion, he shared it so that I would think he had it out there,” Mr. Trump said. As leverage? “Yeah, I think so,” Mr. Trump said. “In retrospect.” 

The president dismissed the assertions in the dossier: “When he brought it to me, I said this is really made-up junk. I didn’t think about any of it. I just thought about, man, this is such a phony deal.”

Wait, did Trump just accuse the former head of the FBI with threatening to blackmail him?

He does realize that President Obama was also told about that dossier as well, right?

Trump also disputed Comey's testimony under oath that he asked people to leave the room so that they could talk in private about ending the investigation into Michael Flynn:

“I don’t remember even talking to him about any of this stuff,” Mr. Trump said. “He said I asked people to go. Look, you look at his testimony. His testimony is loaded up with lies, O.K.?” 

He expressed no second thoughts about firing Mr. Comey, saying, “I did a great thing for the American people.”

Oh, well you just know the Senate Intelligence agency is going to want to talk to about that.

Trump also went after Special Counsel Robert Mueller: 

Mr. Trump was also critical of Mr. Mueller, a former F.B.I. director, reprising some of his past complaints that lawyers in his office contributed money to Mrs. Clinton’s campaign. He noted that he actually interviewed Mr. Mueller to replace Mr. Comey just before his appointment as special counsel.

“He was up here and he wanted the job,” Mr. Trump said. After he was named special counsel, “I said, ‘What the hell is this all about?’ Talk about conflicts. But he was interviewing for the job. There were many other conflicts that I haven’t said, but I will at some point.”

And then there was this thinly veiled threat:

Asked if Mr. Mueller’s investigation would cross a red line if it expanded to look at his family’s finances beyond any relationship to Russia, Mr. Trump said, “I would say yes.” He would not say what he would do about it. “I think that’s a violation. Look, this is about Russia.”

Holy shit!

So to be clear in this one interview Trump has admitted that he would not have hired Jeff Sessions if he knew he would not protect him from these Russian investigations, suggested that the former FBI chief was threatening to blackmail him, and insinuated that the Special Counsel might lose his job if he investigates the Trump family finances.

That is in only ONE interview.

Damn, no wonder Trump hates the media.

They keep reporting on the things that he says and does, so that people know about them.

Must be so frustrating. 

67 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:07 AM

    http://www.rawstory.com/2017/07/mueller-defies-trump-warning-and-expands-russia-probe-to-include-familys-business-dealings/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:05 AM

      Who is Bob's Hideout?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous7:21 PM

      Dann0 being a weird0!

      Delete
  2. Anonymous8:13 AM

    " The dangers spelled out in Three Felonies a Day do not apply solely to “white collar criminals,” state and local politicians, and professionals. No social class or profession is safe from this troubling form of social control by the executive branch, and nothing less than the integrity of our constitutional democracy hangs in the balance."

    https://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp/1594035229

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous8:44 AM

    And the stuff he said about Napoleon and other weird made up history stuff was bizarre - on the level of Palin un-educated bizzare

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous9:36 AM

      He is a mental case.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:18 AM

      She is a mental case.

      Delete
    3. He possesses no actual knowledge about anything. It's like someone has spoonfed him a few choice morsels which he regurgitates as pink slime --- something many will swallow as truth or knowledge, but those with discernment quickly recognize as poorly memorized cheat sheet or a bunch of lies.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous8:50 AM

    "CONdo CONdo CONdo. Very UnImportant. $"

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous8:55 AM

    Boy that guy loves to talk. Talk, talk, talk. He's the bestest with words. He has so many words.
    Keep them comin' Donny.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous8:59 AM

    I think this quote is the most appalling of the interview as it just screams NUTS:

    TRUMP: But what it does, Maggie, it means it gets tougher and tougher. As they get something, it gets tougher. Because politically, you can’t give it away. So pre-existing conditions are a tough deal. Because you are basically saying from the moment the insurance, you’re 21 years old, you start working and you’re paying $12 a year for insurance, and by the time you’re 70, you get a nice plan. Here’s something where you walk up and say, “I want my insurance.” It’s a very tough deal, but it is something that we’re doing a good job of.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If my grandparents, may they rest in peace, had EVER spouted nonsense like this, my entire family would have had them declared certifiably insane. They all however remained in their right mind to the very end.

      This guy is an embarrassment. A humiliation. An international laughingstock. A traitor. A criminal.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous9:01 AM

    Why was melania sitting next to putin at the G20 dinner?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous9:38 AM

      I heard Angela Merkel and the summit committee made those arrangements.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:00 AM

      You & ME babe!
      http://www.rawstory.com/2017/07/watch-trumps-wild-gestures-to-putin-at-the-g20-dinner/

      Delete
  8. Anonymous9:03 AM

    Trump Is His Own Worst Enemy

    I have finally found something about Donald Trump’s arrogation of the presidency in which to take comfort: his absolute ineptitude at legislative advancement.

    The country may well be saved from some of Trump’s most draconian impulses by some of Trump’s most pronounced flaws: his lack of seriousness, his aversion to tedium and his gnat-like attention span.

    The embarrassing faltering of the Republicans’ plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act might be both history lesson and harbinger. Republicans in Congress weren’t prepared with a workable plan, and Trump never had any plan. He campaigned on applause-line policies: Anything that roused a response from his rabid adherents, he repeated and amplified. He never gave details because the details didn’t exist, and he wouldn’t have been able to understand and articulate them if they did.

    Trump was simply a megaphone for the primal screams of Barack Obama-Hillary Clinton haters flipping out over the cultural anxiety accompanying the ascension of women and minorities.

    He helped people find the language and the platform to disguise racial worry as economic worry. He helped people who inherently, in many cases maybe even subconsciously, loathe women, at least when they aspire to equality or power, to loathe Hillary Clinton, a woman aspiring to more power.

    Continue reading the main story

    Charles M. Blow
    Politics, public opinion and social justice.
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    SEE ALL COMMENTS WRITE A COMMENT
    Trump has a habit of keeping company and confidence with the racially offensive. The fact that Steve Bannon is his chief strategist and has an office in the White House should be proof enough.

    But there are other examples. Notably, last summer Trump claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin had used a racial slur to refer to Barack Obama, but just seconds later Trump was hoping that Putin would like him. Trump said:

    “I was shocked to hear him mention the N-word. You know what the N-word is, right? … He has a total lack of respect for President Obama. No. 1, he doesn’t like him and No. 2, he doesn’t respect him. I think he’s going to respect your president if I’m elected and I hope he likes me.”

    Now of course this could all be a lie. Our president lies the way other people breathe — with a complete absence of effort. But true or false, it is a curious story to relay. The president claimed that he was “shocked” at the racial epithet, but not too shocked to abandon a desire for Putin’s favor. If you don’t unequivocally reject intolerance, you are passively — and in some cases, actively — encouraging it.

    (Also, I thought Trump said he never met Putin. Oh, well …)

    Anyway, this kind of base, dog-whistle anger-aggregation was the Trump campaign specialty, and it — in addition to Russia’s assistance, voter suppression and some folks’ heritage panic — propelled Trump to victory.

    But now that Trump is in office, the real work of governing begins — not just the flash of rallies, the ovations of the obsequious, the thrilling one-liners. He now has to both focus on the big picture and fuss over the fine detail.

    This is simply beyond him.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/20/opinion/donald-trump-obamacare-racism.html

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous9:03 AM

    OT? chump change...

    http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/342911-feds-fine-exxon-2m-for-violating-russia-sanctions-while-tillerson

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous9:04 AM

    Donald is using the NYT to smokescreen the healthcare situation. It's an obvious ruse. Yawn.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:37 PM

      Wow! If he wanted us to change the subject, he did an excellent job! I'm all ears as the idiot shoots off his mouth!

      Delete
    2. Anonymous6:15 PM

      Look over here. DON'T look over there.-Trump,Palin. These 2 cons always show their hands.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous9:05 AM

    Team Trump Used Obamacare Money to Run PR Effort Against It

    The administration is tasked with overseeing the health care law. Instead, it has made a major social media push to undermine it.

    The Trump administration has spent taxpayer money meant to encourage enrollment in the Affordable Care Act on a public relations campaign aimed at methodically strangling it.

    The effort, which involves a multi-pronged social media push as well as video testimonials designed at damaging public opinion of President Obama’s health care law, is far more robust and sustained than has been publicly revealed or realized.

    The strategy has caught the eye of legal experts and Democrats in Congress, who have asked government agencies to investigate whether the administration has misused funds and engaged in covert propaganda in its efforts to damage and overturn the seven-year-old health care law. It’s also roiled Obama administration veterans, who argue that the current White House is not only abdicating its responsibilities to administer the law but sabotaging it in an effort to facilitate its undoing by Congress.

    “I’m on a daily basis horrified by leaders at the Department of Health and Human Services who seem intent on taking healthcare away from the constituents they are supposed to serve,” former HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in an interview with The Daily Beast. “We always believed that delivering health and human services was the mission of the department. That seems to not be the mission of the current leadership.”

    The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) declined repeated attempts to discuss its PR efforts. But more than half-a-dozen sources at various agencies and on the Hill outlined the scope of the anti-Obamacare push in conversations with The Daily Beast.

    Under Secretary Tom Price’s stewardship, HHS has filmed and produced a series of testimonial videos featuring individuals claiming to have been harmed by Obamacare. Those “viral” videos have had decidedly limited reach, often gathering somewhere between 100 and 200 views each. But the Department has made a heavy investment in them nonetheless. To date, it has released 23 videos. A source familiar with the video production says that there have been nearly 30 interviews conducted in total, from which more than 130 videos have been produced.

    Each testimonial has the same look, feel, and setting, with the subjects sitting before a gray backdrop and speaking directly to camera about how Obamacare has harmed their lives. They were all shot at the Department’s internal studio, according to numerous sources who worked for or continue to work at HHS. Under the Obama administration, it was customary that such videos were recorded and edited by an outside contractor who then billed the department for its work. One former official said that the contractor would charge roughly $550 an hour.

    http://www.thedailybeast.com/team-trump-used-obamacare-money-to-run-ads-against-it

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous9:07 AM

    Trump Investigated For Money Laundering As Special Counsel Looks At Russia Financial Ties

    Both the FBI and Special Counsel Robert Mueller are looking at the financial transactions between the Trump family, Trump associates, and Russians for potential money laundering.

    ...Trump’s warning that he would fire Special Counsel Mueller if he investigated his or his family’s finances makes even more sense now. Trump, his family, and his associates are being looked at for money laundering. If laundered money made its way into the Trump campaign that would bring up a whole host of criminal and campaign finance law violations.

    Since Trump is micromanager of his business, his name is bound to be on documents that are associated with the financial transactions which are under investigation.

    http://www.politicususa.com/2017/07/20/trump-investigated-money-laundering-special-counsel-russia-financial-ties.html

    Russia Smoking Gun Could Turn Into A WMD As Investigators Dig Into Trump Jr. Meetings

    House Intelligence Committee member Rep. Jackie Speer (D-CA) said that she believes meeting with Donald Trump Jr. and the Russians were the tip of the iceberg. Investigators are digging deeper and asking questions about Trump Jr.'s interactions with Russia.

    http://www.politicususa.com/2017/07/20/russia-smoking-gun-turn-wmd-investigators-dig-trump-jr-meetings.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If they get too close, Trump will just pardon everyone, including himself. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/what-happens-if-trump-exercise-pardon-power_us_596f75dbe4b0000eb197ba66?section=us_politics

      Can't pardon himself? He'll get Pence to do it.

      And the Death Party will turn a blind eye and go right along.

      http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-hard-right-sticks-with-trump-no-matter-what_us_5970eddae4b062ea5f9092e5?iqx&ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009

      "Trump’s regime, no matter how chaotic or personality-based, is the best chance they have ever had to push their fiercely tribal and anti-government agenda. "

      "In larger terms, that means hard-right forces in and out of the administration will press ahead, without interference, on:

      ― nominating young, aggressively conservative judges who can serve extraordinarily long tenures, most of them vetted and put forward by the Federalist Society, a self-described conservative and libertarian law group with thousands of members, including judges.

      ― dismantling the structures of business regulation as much as they can (without the need for legislation). Structures, which in many cases, were first erected or designed by Republicans in the GOP’s Theodore Roosevelt era.

      ― removing civil rights-based procedural protections built up over the years to guard against racism, overzealous prosecutions and incarceration.

      ― undermining the role of science and environmental concerns in the oversight of energy, manufacturing and transportation industries.

      ― clamping down administratively on immigration, and, to the extent possible without legislation, abolishing the idea that immigrants have any kind of moral purchase on the American conscience.

      ― restricting, if not strangling, hard-won protections for voting rights enacted since the 1960s (the hard-right’s most foundational goal)."

      The Senate just confirmed a judge that compared abortion to slavery.

      http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/john-bush-judge-mcconnell-abortion-slavery_us_5970d2a7e4b062ea5f905f3f?section=us_politics

      There is no shit they won't sink low enough to pass.

      Delete
  13. Anonymous9:17 AM

    "Hanging" is the least that Trump deserves. He is not my president!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous9:18 AM

    I wish every article that speaks of Trump and Co having conversations about "Russian Adoptions" would go on to explain that's it's not actually about adopting poor little Russian babies. It's about the SANCTIONS the US slapped on the Russians. Russians couldn't care less about kids. It's about lots of $$$$$$$. That's what they ( and Trump) only care about.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:10 AM

      Adoptions are USED as a pass thru to funnel money.
      In Alaska, you can do what you want until you get caught. Those that help the criminal enterprises are either killed or jailed.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous6:07 PM

      Word is Russia is selling orphans organs on the black market. $$$$$!!!!

      Delete
    3. Anonymous7:23 PM

      607.Really? Well now. Yawn. Stretch. Thank you for that.
      Time to take some folks down.

      Delete
  15. Anonymous9:21 AM

    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/the-times-interview-annotated

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous9:26 AM

    http://www.rawstory.com/2017/07/did-jill-stein-help-russia-elect-trump/

    Commie $tein "she recorded a video from Moscow’s famous Red Square, in which she talked about “the need to rein in American exceptionalism” her surprising cameo in the Trump Jr. letter gave some on Twitter occasion to rejoice."

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous9:27 AM

    Trump considers outsourcing American cybersecurity to Russia

    The Trump administration’s eagerness to cooperate with Russia is getting scarier by the day.

    Just as the State Department announces that it will be shutting down its Office of the Coordinator for Cyber Issues, Russian media is reporting that the joint cybersecurity task force Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin discussed during their extended meeting at the G20 summit “is underway without doubts.”

    In other words, it seems Trump’s State Department is winding down its cooperation with other countries that did not try to hack our election to instead work with the country that hacked into our election systems in 39 states to try to install Trump into the Oval Office.

    Trump’s intention to sell out America’s national security to cooperate with a hostile foreign nation was first revealed after his meeting with Putin. It was, unsurprisingly, met with universal condemnation and scorn — from Democrats and Republicans.

    The Trump administration then appeared to backpedal, with Trump tweeting that the idea probably wouldn’t work anyway, and Mike Pence parroting the line in a right-wing radio interview.

    But according to Russia, the plan is moving forward.

    http://shareblue.com/trump-considers-outsourcing-american-cybersecurity-to-russia/

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous9:28 AM

    Trump admits Russians could have already paid him millions of dollars

    Donald Trump inadvertently admitted just how easy it would be for foreign entities to bribe him by directing millions of dollars right into his bank accounts.

    Donald Trump has now confirmed the existence of a financial pipeline to his personal bank accounts that would allow Russians or other foreign nationals to pay him millions of dollars.

    In his interview with the New York Times, Trump told reporters, “It’s possible there’s a condo or something, so, you know, I sell a lot of condo units, and somebody from Russia buys a condo, who knows?”

    The concession validates earlier reporting indicating that Trump privately owns over 400 condo units and home lots available for purchase on the open market. It would be extremely easy for Russia or another agent of influence to buy one or more of these properties, and funnel millions of dollars toward Trump and his family.

    Special counsel Robert Mueller, ignoring Trump’s threats about investigating his private finances, appears to be examining transactions of this sort. Bloomberg reports that “FBI investigators and others are looking at Russian purchases of apartments in Trump buildings” as part of their probe into his campaign and Russian influence in the 2016 presidential election.

    The Mueller team is also reportedly looking at a financial transaction in which Russian fertilizer magnate Dmitry Rybolovlev bought a Palm Beach, Florida, estate in 2008 for $95 million from Trump after he purchased it four years earlier for much less, $41 million.

    Trump has already used this cash pipeline to enrich himself since winning the election day. USA Today found that after election day in 2016, Trump sold 14 luxury properties and earned $23 million from the transaction.

    There is still at least $250 million of Trump properties available on the open market, and nothing would prevent an interested party from paying Trump above market value to curry favor with his administration.

    Trump has been pushing for weakened sanctions against Russia, and has also been working to roll back the penalties imposed on Russia by the Obama administration for its election interference. It is impossible to know if this behavior is in response to outside money that was funneled to Trump.

    The financial pipeline exists because Trump decided to ignore America’s ethics traditions and instead has focused on building his personal wealth rather than embrace integrity and honesty. And it wasn’t by accident.

    http://shareblue.com/trump-admits-russians-could-have-already-paid-him-millions-of-dollars/

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous9:30 AM

    Trump retreats, issues stand down order against Russian cyberattacks

    Acting on orders from Donald Trump, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is downgrading America's ability to respond to cyber intrusions, demoting a key office in America's cyber arsenal while ignoring security concerns.

    The Trump administration is retreating from defending the United States from hackers at the same time that Russia and other international actors continue to target our country.

    Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is planning to shut down the Office of the Coordinator for Cyber Issues, an office set up by President Barack Obama in 2011 to coordinate cyber-related issues between the United States and other countries.

    Under Obama, the coordinator responded directly to the secretary of state. Under Tillerson’s reorganization, the position will be buried under State Department bureaucracy, and will have to go through the chain of command to elevate urgent cyber issues to the top diplomat.

    This troubling move is part of a pattern: Tillerson has been executing Donald Trump’s dangerous vision at the department, in part by failing to fill many positions that previously have been crucial to America’s role as the sole global superpower.

    Robert Knake, former director of cybersecurity policy at the National Security Council under Obama, told Bloomberg that Tillerson is “taking an issue that’s preeminent and putting it inside a backwater within the State Department.”

    The decision also comes after U.S. intelligence agencies pointed to Russia-backed hackers for their role in a cyber campaign to disrupt the presidential election in favor of Trump. The report noted that Russia had “developed a clear preference” for Trump and sought to “denigrate” Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

    The hackers broke into computers used by members of the Democratic Party, stole their emails, then delivered them to WikiLeaks, who released them to the world to be weaponized politically by the Trump campaign.

    Of course, Trump has repeatedly dismissed the findings of the intelligence reports, insisting without evidence that some other countries could have done the hacking.

    He has instead been working to roll back sanctions imposed on Russia for their election hacking, and recently floated the idea of working with Russia on election hacking, a notion that was slammed by a bipartisan group of elected officials as essentially handing a bank robber the key to the vault.

    And as Trump retreats, Russia has continued to advance. Recent testimony from the Department of Homeland Security indicated that people connected to the Russian government tried to hack election-related computer systems in 21 states, attempting to find vulnerabilities so they could break into the systems.

    Concerns have repeatedly been raised that America could face a “cyber Pearl Harbor,” in which critical systems are targeted, leading to mass chaos and disorder, as well as the loss of life as a result.

    Despite the looming danger, Trump and Tillerson are doing exactly what Russia would want if they are hoping for an impotent response.

    http://shareblue.com/trump-retreats-issues-stand-down-order-against-russian-cyberattacks/

    ReplyDelete
  20. Anonymous9:36 AM

    He expected Sessions to stuff the investigation. As much as I hate Sessions, he appears to at least have taken Ethics 101.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:19 AM

      When he was caught lying during his confirmation hearings about Russia there was an outcry for him to be fired.That's when he recused himself. It was to dampen down the outcry and cover his own Kebbbler elf ass.He recently said his job was to protect the POTUS.No that's not his job,it's to protect and defend the American people and Constitution.

      Delete
  21. Anonymous9:36 AM

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-new-york-times-interview_us_59700842e4b0110cb3cb9745

    "6 Wild Claims Trump Made In His Bizarre New York Times Interview"

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous9:42 AM

    Trump is ready to have his face on boxes of Coco Puffs.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:12 AM

      So his face is all chocateley from eating Putin's assole?

      Delete
  23. Anonymous9:56 AM

    Trump’s administration has ended Affordable Care Act contracts that brought assistance into libraries, businesses and urban neighborhoods in 18 cities, meaning shoppers on the insurance exchanges will have fewer places to turn for help signing up for coverage.

    Community groups say the move, announced to them by contractors last week, will make it even more difficult to enroll the uninsured and help people already covered re-enroll or shop for a new policy. That’s already a concern because of consumer confusion stemming from the political wrangling in Washington and a shorter enrollment period. People will have 45 days to shop for 2018 coverage, starting Nov. 1 and ending Dec. 15. In previous years, they had twice that much time.

    Some see it as another attempt to undermine the health law’s marketplaces by a president who has suggested he should let “Obamacare” fail. The administration, earlier this year, pulled paid advertising for the sign-up website HealthCare.gov, prompting an inquiry by a federal inspector general into that decision and whether it hurt sign-ups.

    Now insurers and advocates are concerned that the administration could further destabilize the marketplaces where people shop for coverage by not promoting them or not enforcing the mandate compelling people to get coverage. The administration has already threatened to withhold payments to insurers to help people afford care, which would prompt insurers to sharply increase prices.

    “There’s a clear pattern of the administration trying to undermine and sabotage the Affordable Care Act,” said Elizabeth Hagan, associate director of coverage initiatives for the liberal advocacy group Families USA. “It’s not letting the law fail, it’s making the law fail.”

    Two companies — McLean, Virginia-based Cognosante LLC and Falls Church, Virginia-based CSRA Inc. — will no longer help with the sign-ups following a decision by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services officials not to renew a final option year of the vendors’ contracts. The contracts, awarded in 2013, were never meant to be long term, said CMS spokeswoman Jane Norris in an email.

    “These contracts were intended to help CMS provide temporary, in-person enrollment support during the early years” of the exchanges, Norris said. Other federally funded help with enrollment will continue, she said, including a year-round call center and grant-funded navigator programs. The existing program is “robust” and “we have the on-the-ground resources necessary” in key cities, Norris said.

    But community advocates expected the vendors’ help for at least another year. “It has our heads spinning about how to meet the needs in communities,” said Inna Rubin of United Way of Metro Chicago, who helps run an Illinois health access coalition.

    CSRA’s current $12.8 million contract expires Aug. 29. Cognosante’s $9.6 million contract expires the same date.

    Together, they assisted 14,500 enrollments, far less than 1 percent of the 9.2 million people who signed up through HealthCare.gov, the insurance marketplace serving most states. But some advocates said the groups focused on the healthy, young adults needed to keep the insurance markets stable and prices down.

    During the most recent open enrollment period, they operated in the Texas cities of Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Austin, McAllen and El Paso; the Florida cities of Miami, Tampa and Orlando; Atlanta; northern New Jersey; Phoenix; Philadelphia; Indianapolis; New Orleans; Charlotte, North Carolina; Cleveland and Chicago.

    The insurance exchanges, accessed by customers through the federal HealthCare.gov or state-run sites, are a way for people to compare and shop for insurance coverage. The health law included grant money for community organizations to train people to help consumers apply for coverage, answer questions and explain differences between the insurance policies offered...

    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/trump-admin-pulls-aca-contracts

    ReplyDelete
  24. Anonymous10:11 AM

    Trump has now attacked basically everyone in charge of the Russia investigation

    ...But perhaps the biggest takeaway here is that Trump has now repeatedly attacked the people tasked with overseeing federal law enforcement's Russia probe. Five people have had a leading role in that regard, and Trump has now attacked all of them.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/07/20/trump-has-now-attacked-basically-everyone-who-is-in-charge-of-the-russia-investigation/

    ReplyDelete
  25. Anonymous10:13 AM

    Trump’s first six months: The fact-check tally

    As president, Trump has already earned 20 Four-Pinocchio ratings — and a total of 152 Pinocchios. If he doesn’t like his Pinocchios, there’s a relatively simple solution: Stick to the facts.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2017/07/20/president-trumps-first-six-months-the-fact-check-tally/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:11 AM

      I sincerely doubt if he knows the facts or what the truth is. His ignorance is chilling.

      Delete
    2. Seconded, a thousand times! After President Obama's intelligence, professorial intellectualism, and wonkish erudition, it is mind-boggling, surreal, unbelievable having DT in the Oval Office! He is a walking (lumbering actually) tweeting cesspit of crass, crude, uncouth, cruel ignorance.

      Delete
  26. Anonymous10:19 AM

    I’m a scientist. I’m blowing the whistle on the Trump administration.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/im-a-scientist-the-trump-administration-reassigned-me-for-speaking-up-about-climate-change/2017/07/19/389b8dce-6b12-11e7-9c15-177740635e83_story.html

    ReplyDelete
  27. Anonymous10:22 AM

    Everyone you encounter today will shake their head and say that trump is mentally ill and he must resign or be impeached. Even his hardcore loyalist.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Anonymous10:38 AM

    I heard that royalty are trained to think and talk of themselves in the third person. Isn't it also a trait of some mental illness? Anyway, Trump also referred to himself that way in the Lester Holt interview -- the one in which he gave his real reason for firing James Comey.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:17 AM

      Train the royalty to act mentally ill? No surprise.
      They certainly have manipulated mental illness as a legality for sure.
      Must be money attached.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous7:27 PM

      Russian money baby. I think one in particular asked too many questions. Got punished.
      Now that one is watching and waiting with Bad Company.
      Good job you stupid fuckers!
      Your grand elaborated plan is exploding in front of you!
      Shake of head. Can't fix it.

      Delete
  29. Anonymous10:41 AM

    Trump Counterterrorism Adviser Says Russia Did In Fact Hack US Election

    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/trump-counterterrorism-adviser-says-russia-did-hack-us-election

    ReplyDelete
  30. Anonymous10:42 AM

    Donald Trump Is Keeping His ‘Religious Liberty’ Plan Secret. The ACLU Is Suing So the Public Can See It.

    Trump wants to turn back the clock on the progress made by the LGBTQ community and block any hope of full equality. He also wants to reverse advances for women’s equality, including by blocking access to abortion and birth control. He’s already promised to appoint judges who will overturn Roe v. Wade, and now he wants to roll back LGBTQ rights, women’s rights, and those of many other Americans under the cover of “religious liberty.”

    We know he wants to do this. We know because he has said so, and because he has taken preliminary steps to put his plan in motion. What we don’t know yet is exactly what he is planning on doing, and who he is consulting about it.

    Earlier this year, the ACLU filed requests with various federal agencies demanding information on how the administration was planning to expand religious exemptions that pave the way for discrimination. None of those federal agencies complied.

    That’s why we are suing today. We are looking to unmask everything we can about Trump’s plan, so we can best expose the threat he poses to the rights and dignity of countless Americans.

    We know there are materials to uncover.

    http://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-is-keeping-his-religious-liberty-plan-secret-the-aclu-is-suing-so-the-public-can-see-it

    ReplyDelete
  31. Anonymous10:57 AM

    FB>"In his NYT interview, Mr. Trump blasted his own appointed Attorney General, former Senator Jeff Sessions, and, in effect and not for the first time, threatened Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating possible crimes involving Trump family members and associates and Russia. Mr Trump specifically demanded that Mueller avoid looking into the President’s tax returns and financial dealings. In other words, “don’t follow the money,” in regards to possible Russian dealings or anything else. Thus, raising anew the question, “what is he hiding?”
    So, six months in, and on and on it goes. Where it ends no one knows."
    Dan 'the Man Rather

    ReplyDelete
  32. Anonymous11:00 AM

    The immediate future for Trump is clear to me. He gave it away in his interview with the NYT yesterday:

    'Asked if Mr. Mueller’s investigation would cross a red line if it expanded to look at his family’s finances beyond any relationship to Russia, Mr. Trump said, “I would say yes.” He would not say what he would do about it. “I think that’s a violation. Look, this is about Russia.”'

    Trump's not a poker player, and he just showed what he's afraid of - Robert Mueller digging into his and his company's financial dealings with Russians. That's where the smoking gun is, and Mueller's investigation is leading right to it.

    So, you can expect Mueller to be fired soon, but my bet is they already know enough right now to bring the orange clown down.

    Mueller is way ahead of the game. He brought in specialists in financial misdealings and the Russian mafia a while ago.

    It's always been a 'follow the money' story and I think Mueller is on it. After Trump's bankruptcies, he was shunned by every mainstream lender so he had to go to the dark side to get funding. Whether he actively engaged in aiding and abetting money laundering will be the most interesting question for Mueller. Would love to be a fly on the wall when Mueller, Preet, the NY Attorney General, and the Manhattan DA sit down to compare notes.

    Trumpy has had significant financial ties to Russian money for a very long time which gives them, as Timothy Hutton would say.......Leverage. Putin has just warned Trumpy that he's about ready to use it. That's what the "private conversation" was about and as usual Trumpy is trying to renegotiate the deal but he's in waaaaaay over his head.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Anonymous11:03 AM

    Trump Is Showing The World What A Weak American Presidency Looks Like

    The White House has lost control of its foreign policy to the military and to allies who couldn't work with a globally loathed American leader even if they wanted to. Trump has lost control of his domestic policy to Congress, which has been unable to give him a signature win despite Republicans controlling both chambers. He has lost control of his own aides to leaks and investigations, of his old television cronies to spiteful personal feuds, and most of all, of the narrative of an “America First” presidency with a coherent vision or promise.

    “The premise of the value proposition that voters bought into was: This guy knew about the art of the deal and that he could break through ‘Washington,’ break through political norms, and get things done,” a conservative Republican congressman said of Trump. “Things aren't getting done, and that shows weakness.”

    Republican leaders had ignored Trump’s campaign pledges to leave things like pre-existing condition protections and Medicaid untouched, and instead put forward a conservative health care plan. As they frantically tried to wrangle votes for their bill, they knew he'd rubber stamp — even cheerlead — whatever they put in front of him. Mitch McConnell specifically requested that Trump let him lead the health care efforts in the Senate.

    And with the exception of one tweet, the president did not take the opportunity from Bedminster over the weekend to make his case to the public for why the Senate should pass the latest health care measure, something that would give him at least one big legislative accomplishment before Congress’s planned August break. The president did, however, take the opportunity to tweet — six times — about the golf tournament.

    ...Trump’s struggles go beyond health care. More than six months into Trump’s presidency, Republicans have no legislative accomplishments other than the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, a confusing foreign policy, and a White House that is perpetually in damage-control mode. From lawmakers and governors to donors and foreign policy experts, a certain realization is sinking in within the party, based on more than a dozen interviews in recent days: Donald Trump has been a historically weak and ineffective president.

    https://www.buzzfeed.com/tariniparti/trump-is-showing-the-world-what-a-weak-american-presidency

    ReplyDelete
  34. Pat in MA11:04 AM

    First time in his life he's being held accountable & just can't believe he can't BS his way through & find someone to make the Russia scandal go away. Keep talking dufus, drip drip drip.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Anonymous11:08 AM

    This man is mentally ill.He terrifies me.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Anonymous11:09 AM

    Illeism or Illeist describes people speaking of themselves in the 3rd person.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Anonymous11:28 AM

    Nearly half of liberals can’t even stand to be around Trump supporters

    ...The poll shows almost half of liberal Democrats — 47 percent — say that if a friend supported Trump, it would actually put a strain on their friendship. Among Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters more broadly, the number is 35 percent. White and more-educated Democrats are more likely to feel that it's tough to even be friends with a Trump supporter.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/07/20/half-of-liberals-cant-even-stand-to-be-around-trump-supporters/

    No Trump supporters are in my world, thank goodness.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous5:05 PM

      2 family members,out of a Mormon family for for Trump. The rest think they're nuts. I'd thought they all voted trump since they tend to do as they're told thru the church. I was pleasantly surprised most of them saw thru the bullshit Trumpsters were putting out. Better they didn't vote,than vote for Traitor Trump.

      Delete
  38. Anonymous11:30 AM

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    Feinstein: Trump Jr. will be subpoenaed if he refuses to testify
    © Getty Images

    Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said Thursday she isn't concerned about Donald Trump Jr. and Paul Manafort agreeing to testify before a Senate panel, because if they don't "they'll be subpoenaed."

    "Am I concerned? No, I'm not concerned, because if they don't they'll be subpoenaed," Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, told reporters.

    http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/342956-feinstein-threatens-to-subpoena-trump-jr-if-he-doesnt-accept-invitation-to

    ReplyDelete
  39. Anonymous11:36 AM

    Trump doesn’t think Mueller should look into his business transactions. Too late.

    Just yesterday, President Donald Trump told a trio of New York Times reporters that if special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation turned to his finances, he’d view it as a “violation” of Mueller’s charge. “This is about Russia,” Trump said.

    But according to a new report by Bloomberg’s Greg Farrell and Christian Berthelsen, investigators had already been investigating several Trump business transactions with Russians.

    The Bloomberg reporters quote “a person familiar with the probe” as confirming that several transactions in particular have piqued investigators’ interest, including:

    The 2013 Miss Universe pageant, which was held in Moscow
    A Trump business deal with Russian associates for a condo development in SoHo
    Trump’s sale of a Florida estate to a wealthy Russian back in 2008

    Importantly, this has been in the works for a while — the Bloomberg report said it spiraled out of an old investigation into money laundering by former US Attorney Preet Bharara (whom Trump fired in March). Trump’s interview with the Times had nothing to do with it.

    But the news of this aspect of the investigation has only added to speculation in Washington that Trump could fire Mueller — an action that, if carried out, would mean a crisis over the rule of law in the United States.

    https://www.vox.com//policy-and-politics/2017/7/20/16003698/trump-investigation-businesses-russians

    ReplyDelete
  40. Anonymous11:41 AM

    But reading the transcript of Donald Trump’s recent interview with three New York Times reporters, two things stand out. One is the sheer range of subjects that Trump does not understand correctly — from French urban planning to health insurance to Russian military history to where Baltimore is to domestic policy in the 1990s to his own regulatory initiatives. The other is that Trump is determined, across the board, to simply bluff and bluster through rather than admitting to any uncertainty or gaps in his knowledge.

    It’s an approach that’s certainly commonplace among Trump’s cohort of rich Manhattanites. People who’ve spent years surrounded by flatterers and lackeys eager to get their hands on their money tend to come away with an inflated sense of their own domains of competence. But precisely because the demands of the presidency are so unimaginably vast, it’s a frightening attribute in a chief executive.

    The complete interview is a little bit hard to parse, since Trump keeps ducking off the record and the transcript interrupts. But it really is worth taking in the whole thing — the scope is breathtaking.

    https://www.vox.com/2017/7/20/16003218/trump-nyt-interview-ignorance

    ReplyDelete
  41. Anonymous11:42 AM

    The man-baby has spent his entire life lying and bullying and stiffing those he owes. He has gotten away with it. Now things are different but he can and is doing a lot of damage as he lashes out in a perpetual tantrum. The sociopathic party controlling Congress is not inclined to impeach him.

    ReplyDelete
  42. Anonymous12:25 PM

    Thoughts...
    1) The Attorney General is not your personal attorney you fucking idiot!
    2) You may not remember kicking people out of the room to talk to Comey, but Sessions and Comey have already testified under oath that you did, Asshat!
    3) Beauregard has found a set of cajones and is staying. As much as I hate his policies, I'm starting to like the little shit since he is a thorn in your side!
    4) Follow the fucking money, Mueller! The Gambino Crime Family needs to be in jail...every damn one of them from Ivanka to Jr. to Sr. to Jared!

    ReplyDelete
  43. Anonymous12:31 PM

    You know, a lot of people have been saying that the political system is broken. I think trump is proof positive that the real problem is our economic system and the corporate culture that so richly rewards deceit and greed. That is what created this monster of a president; so much "success" and "winning" in the private sector that he and his followers thought he would make a good president.

    ReplyDelete
  44. Anonymous2:53 PM

    I don’t think John McCain is the only one with a brain tumor.

    Is this throw everyone under the bus or threaten them week at the WH?

    The best thing he could do for the American people is fire Mueller, it would speed up the impeachment process.

    As for the hating the media, he is the one that gave the interview, so why should he have a problem with them reporting what he stated?

    ReplyDelete
  45. Anonymous4:56 PM

    Why couldn't it be Tramp with the tumor????????

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous9:00 PM

      He has one, but it's more easily operable. It's orange and furry on top of his head.

      Delete

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