Vrede too wrote:So, in a mainstream news comments section I've noticed that there are a lot fewer pro-Trump posts and likes/hates than before the "election", more so than can be explained by his falling poll numbers. Satisfaction of winning or were there that many paid sock puppets including Russian ones?
I've been seeing a lot of shock and horror among Trump voters in that he and his team are behaving like they did before the debatesprimariesconventionelection inauguration. Who could have predicted it? (Other than everyone else including conservatives.)
I'm sure there's that and it would be nice to think that people are that aware and willing to admit error to themselves, but still:
Posted in The White House included some curious incidents on its list of under-reported terror attacks
Leaving aside politics, the Trump team's dishonesty and incompetence is astounding.
22 likes, 0 dislikes
Posted in Trump National Golf Club in Fla. ordered to repay $5.7M to ex-members
President* Trump, Chiseler in Chief.
8 likes, 0 dislikes
Posted in Steve Bannon Is Making Sure There’s No White House Paper Trail, Says Intel Source
Bannon is "the swamp".
17 likes, 0 dislikes
Posted in Trump fires top government lawyer who defied immigration order
Sally Yates = Hero.
10 likes, 1 dislike
No replies to any of them. Never would have happened before the election.
Agreed, in general, that one was specific to a particular action of his.
Then, there's the fact that any comparison of past or current DC to swamps is unfair. Swamps are pretty cool and draining them causes massive and irreparable environmental damage.
All three of President Donald Trump’s recent executive orders have earned majority disapproval ratings among Americans, according to a new Gallup poll released Thursday afternoon....
According to the poll, more than half—55 percent—of Americans disapprove of the temporary travel ban, while 42 percent support the measure. And 58 percent disapprove of Trump indefinitely suspending the country’s Syrian refugee program....
After three more judges on the Appeals Court ruled against him, Trump tweets, "See you in court..."
WA Gov. Inslee tweeted in response, "We've seen you in court, Mr. President, and we beat you."
Hero
Elliott Abrams, a neoconservative who championed the Iraq war in the Bush White House, is reportedly emerging as Trump's choice to be Deputy Secretary of State. While serving at the State Department under Reagan, Abrams covered up gross human rights abuses by the governments of Guatemala and El Salvador. In 1991, Abrams was convicted of lying to Congress about the Iran-Contra affair. [1]
Republican Senator Rand Paul, a longtime critic of the neocons, has said he opposes Abrams' nomination. [2] Christopher Preble of the less-war, less-Empire Cato Institute calls the idea of nominating Elliott Abrams to the State Department "baffling." [3] As Senator Elizabeth Warren wrote during the Democratic presidential primary, "personnel is policy." [4]
Urge President Trump and your Senators to oppose the nomination of neocon Elliott Abrams to the State Department by signing and sharing our petition.
For the first time, US investigators say they have corroborated some of the communications detailed in a 35-page dossier compiled by a former British intelligence agent, multiple current and former US law enforcement and intelligence officials tell CNN.
[...]
None of the newly learned information relates to the salacious allegations in the dossier. Rather it relates to conversations between foreign nationals. The dossier details about a dozen conversations between senior Russian officials and other Russian individuals.
By requiring subordinates to speak untruths, a leader can undercut their independent standing, including their standing with the public, with the media and with other members of the administration. That makes those individuals grow more dependent on the leader and less likely to mount independent rebellions against the structure of command. Promoting such chains of lies is a classic tactic when a leader distrusts his subordinates and expects to continue to distrust them in the future.
Another reason for promoting lying is what economists sometimes call loyalty filters. If you want to ascertain if someone is truly loyal to you, ask them to do something outrageous or stupid. If they balk, then you know right away they aren’t fully with you. That too is a sign of incipient mistrust within the ruling clique, and it is part of the same worldview that leads Trump to rely so heavily on family members.
- Tyler Cowen, professor of economics at George Mason University
"There are a lot of killers. You think our country's so innocent?" - Trump in response
"One could argue that's the most anti-American statement ever made by the president of the United States, to confuse American values with Putin, who is running a criminal oligarchy, who kills people abroad and at home, who imprisons journalists...It's hard to know what to think about it." - retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey
