The stumbling, bumbling White House

i prefer to suck on things that aren't morons. like suckers or hard candies. perhaps that makes me a bit bigoted, but i can live with that.

phrodeau said:

He also demanded that new aircraft carriers will be using steam-powered catapults instead of electromagnetic ones, because "it would take Albert Einstein to figure it out." The Navy experts replied with WTF.

https://news.usni.org/2017/05/11/pr...lts-instead-no-good-electromagnetic-launchers

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I just read that.

You can't make this shit up.

Adre said:

The Republicans have done a great job insinuating themselves back into the political fabric after approaching the brink of irrelevance, from the local through the state and federal levels. A lot of that was made possible by clever and patient redistricting. It remains to be seen how patient they'll be as the White House continues down this path of narcissistic, paranoid, and amateur governance. As Trump makes it clear it's only himself he cares about, others may begin begin to think a lot more about self preservation and less about this assclown's Presidency.

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That's my point. Trump has already severely damaged the republican brand and very soon, all those congressional republicans are going to have to make a choice about supporting the president or the party and it's going to be the party. The question is, will they have waited too long.

A perfect example is that it took Paul Ryan far longer to back the Comey firing than McConnell. Their great victory is coming apart at the seams.

phrodeau said:

He also demanded that new aircraft carriers will be using steam-powered catapults instead of electromagnetic ones, because "it would take Albert Einstein to figure it out." The Navy experts replied with WTF.

https://news.usni.org/2017/05/11/pr...lts-instead-no-good-electromagnetic-launchers

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Who knew launching multi ton high performance aircraft off carrier decks under combat conditions would be so complicated?

I guess rail guns will be on the chopping block next. Maybe the Russians have some surplus tech that can be bought cheap.

zipman said:

I just read that.

You can't make this shit up.

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It's like the Republicans took the statement "no one could be dumber than Dubya" as a serious challenge.

Adre said:

The Republicans have done a great job insinuating themselves back into the political fabric after approaching the brink of irrelevance, from the local through the state and federal levels. A lot of that was made possible by clever and patient redistricting.

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Yes, that is a point on which Dems and liberals tend to tragically underestimate Pubs and conservatives: They are clever and patient, and determined and persistent, and they play the long game, and know the difference between glory and power -- they can work in the dark when that is the best way to get things done, and let others have the spotlight. The movement-conservative network of grassroots and astroturf organizations dates back to the 1960s, and won a lot of real power by running for nonpartisan local elections candidates who concealed their radical conservatism; Dems never would have thought of that, but local governments do matter, and provide a bench of experienced talent for higher offices. The Koch brothers have been at work for decades trying to influence the course of public events through money alone. The American Legislative Exchange Council, turning out draft bills for state legislatures year after year, mostly flies under the radar. The Federalist Society of conservative lawyers meets in secret and will not disclose its membership roles, but you can be sure there are on it the names of many powerful people, including many who are invisible to press and public. And only a Pub would have thought of something like RedMap; it was sheer political negligence on the Dems' part that they never saw that coming or prepared defensive measures. And all of that will still be in place when Trump is gone.

We really need to do better. There has been far too much complacency on the left side of the aisle these several decades. We don't need a 50-state strategy, we need a 3,000-county strategy. Sitting around waiting for the GI and Silent generations to die and the Boomers to retire is no strategy; it will happen and it will make the general public less conservative, but you can be sure the Pubs even now are brainstorming ways to deal with that too.

Pookie said:

It's like the Republicans took the statement "no one could be dumber than Dubya" as a serious challenge.

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This^^^^

This whole thing is getting so, so bizarre. It's like an optical illusion - depending on how I squint, the WH is either totally trolling, or totally getting trolled. The tapes tweets are too insane. It feels like needling dems for the Nixon remarks. And the beaming photos w/Russians.

But then, they're (/he's) also just that clueless and legitimately incompetent.

It is exhausting.

Phelia said:

This whole thing is getting so, so bizarre. It's like an optical illusion - depending on how I squint, the WH is either totally trolling, or totally getting trolled. The tapes tweets are too insane. It feels like needling dems for the Nixon remarks. And the beaming photos w/Russians.

But then, they're (/he's) also just that clueless and legitimately incompetent.

It is exhausting.

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I had a hypothesis in January, not sure if I detailed it on the board, but I suspected that Donald Trump only wanted to win the election and become President. His ambitions are complete, and he's done with it. But quitting isn't easy, and it's not in his nature. He is trying to find a way out that saves face. He wants to be given the boot in a way that looks like he was ganged up on. Acting a little bit crazy hasn't worked, so now he has to go full kookoo.