Orange Duce

[Matnum PI]

Kyle Griffin@kylegriffin1
2 days ago
Each of Biden's nominees thanked him for their nominations, but, weirdly, none of them noted the size of his election win or praised how great he was handling the transition.

[seacoaster]

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1331987737562542080

[Kismet]

DOPUS is playing golf (again) today - FORE!!!!!

photo from the press pool (That's him in the knickers)

[seacoaster]

The Post's Editorial today:

"DAY AFTER day, year after year, Americans wondered when Donald Trump would change. But winning primaries, claiming the GOP nomination, taking the White House and being president did not snap him out of a lifelong habit of indecency. It was too much to imagine that losing his reelection bid would bring a change of character. And so it is that President Trump is leaving the White House just as he entered it: a total disgrace.

In what we can only hope will be his last official degradation of his office, the president pardoned Michael Flynn, his former national security adviser, on Wednesday, the afternoon before Thanksgiving. Mr. Flynn freely pleaded guilty to lying to FBI investigators, a felony, about whether he discussed anti-Kremlin sanctions with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. “I recognize that the actions I acknowledged in court today were wrong, and, through my faith in God, I am working to set things right,” Mr. Flynn said then. “I accept full responsibility for my actions.” But then he took it all back.

Mr. Flynn switched lawyers, hiring Sidney Powell — yes, the same Sidney Powell who last week alleged a vast international communist plot to flip the 2020 presidential election to President-elect Joe Biden — and insisted that he was the victim of FBI manipulation. Of course, no one forced him to lie to counterintelligence investigators. But Mr. Trump, who had privately pushed then-FBI Director James B. Comey to go easy on his former confidant, waged a public campaign against prosecuting Mr. Flynn, tying it into his efforts to discredit the Russia investigation. Finally, Attorney General William P. Barr bailed out Mr. Flynn, moving to drop the case against the former Trump staffer, despite his previous guilty plea.

Mr. Flynn’s judge balked, igniting a debate about whether he could stop the Justice Department from showing such obvious favoritism for one of the president’s friends based on legal reasoning the department rejected in other cases. A former federal judge hired to advise the court found Mr. Barr’s justifications “an unconvincing effort to disguise as legitimate a decision to dismiss that is based solely on the fact that Flynn is a political ally of President Trump.” No matter: Now the case is closed. Mr. Trump steamrolled the facts and debate, deploying one of the least reviewable powers of his office — his pardon authority — to officially end the Flynn drama. He enabled an admitted felon to walk free solely because he was a loyal Trumpist.

As he so often does, Mr. Trump grounded his decision in a half-baked conspiracy theory, insisting Wednesday through his press secretary that Mr. Flynn was “the victim of partisan government officials engaged in a coordinated attempt to subvert the election of 2016.” In fact, Mr. Flynn was caught scheming with the representative of a foreign government that actively tried to subvert the 2016 election. Then he lied about it to the FBI.

So it remains in Mr. Trump’s America, at least for a couple more months: Guilty is innocent; lies are truth; traitors are patriots. The question is not whether Mr. Trump has degraded the presidency. The question is how much long-term damage he has done. Will future presidents now feel free to use the pardon power — or the other vast powers of office — with such nakedly crooked motives? How many will calculate that they can make corruption appear to be patriotism as long as enough of the country wants to believe the lies they tell?"

[Typical Lax Dad]

The Post's Editorial today:

"DAY AFTER day, year after year, Americans wondered when Donald Trump would change. But winning primaries, claiming the GOP nomination, taking the White House and being president did not snap him out of a lifelong habit of indecency. It was too much to imagine that losing his reelection bid would bring a change of character. And so it is that President Trump is leaving the White House just as he entered it: a total disgrace.

In what we can only hope will be his last official degradation of his office, the president pardoned Michael Flynn, his former national security adviser, on Wednesday, the afternoon before Thanksgiving. Mr. Flynn freely pleaded guilty to lying to FBI investigators, a felony, about whether he discussed anti-Kremlin sanctions with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. “I recognize that the actions I acknowledged in court today were wrong, and, through my faith in God, I am working to set things right,” Mr. Flynn said then. “I accept full responsibility for my actions.” But then he took it all back.

Mr. Flynn switched lawyers, hiring Sidney Powell — yes, the same Sidney Powell who last week alleged a vast international communist plot to flip the 2020 presidential election to President-elect Joe Biden — and insisted that he was the victim of FBI manipulation. Of course, no one forced him to lie to counterintelligence investigators. But Mr. Trump, who had privately pushed then-FBI Director James B. Comey to go easy on his former confidant, waged a public campaign against prosecuting Mr. Flynn, tying it into his efforts to discredit the Russia investigation. Finally, Attorney General William P. Barr bailed out Mr. Flynn, moving to drop the case against the former Trump staffer, despite his previous guilty plea.

Mr. Flynn’s judge balked, igniting a debate about whether he could stop the Justice Department from showing such obvious favoritism for one of the president’s friends based on legal reasoning the department rejected in other cases. A former federal judge hired to advise the court found Mr. Barr’s justifications “an unconvincing effort to disguise as legitimate a decision to dismiss that is based solely on the fact that Flynn is a political ally of President Trump.” No matter: Now the case is closed. Mr. Trump steamrolled the facts and debate, deploying one of the least reviewable powers of his office — his pardon authority — to officially end the Flynn drama. He enabled an admitted felon to walk free solely because he was a loyal Trumpist.

As he so often does, Mr. Trump grounded his decision in a half-baked conspiracy theory, insisting Wednesday through his press secretary that Mr. Flynn was “the victim of partisan government officials engaged in a coordinated attempt to subvert the election of 2016.” In fact, Mr. Flynn was caught scheming with the representative of a foreign government that actively tried to subvert the 2016 election. Then he lied about it to the FBI.

So it remains in Mr. Trump’s America, at least for a couple more months: Guilty is innocent; lies are truth; traitors are patriots. The question is not whether Mr. Trump has degraded the presidency. The question is how much long-term damage he has done. Will future presidents now feel free to use the pardon power — or the other vast powers of office — with such nakedly crooked motives? How many will calculate that they can make corruption appear to be patriotism as long as enough of the country wants to believe the lies they tell?"

Those are Commodore Schmidlap’s guys (and gal)!

[old salt]

Those are Commodore Schmidlap’s guys (and gal)!

Yawn ! What was FBI's admitted goal when ambushing Flynn.

Flynn was exonerated by the DoJ when they dropped the charges, tacitly admitting their previous investigative & prosecutorial abuse.
He is now free from Judge Sullivan's abuse of his office. Flynn's finally a free man & a hero to at least 73 million Americans.
Suck on that one, Capt Video.

[Typical Lax Dad]

Those are Commodore Schmidlap’s guys (and gal)!

Yawn ! What was FBI's admitted goal when ambushing Flynn.

Flynn was exonerated by the DoJ when they dropped the charges, tacitly admitting their previous investigative & prosecutorial abuse.
He is now free from Judge Sullivan's abuse of his office. Flynn's finally a free man & a hero to at least 73 million Americans.
Suck on that one, Capt Video.

. Those yo peeps!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving and stay safe.

[old salt]

Those are Commodore Schmidlap’s guys (and gal)!

Yawn ! What was FBI's admitted goal when ambushing Flynn.

Flynn was exonerated by the DoJ when they dropped the charges, tacitly admitting their previous investigative & prosecutorial abuse.
He is now free from Judge Sullivan's abuse of his office. Flynn's finally a free man & a hero to at least 73 million Americans.
Suck on that one, Capt Video.

. Those yo peeps!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving and stay safe.

You too

[Matnum PI]

President Trump’s 3,400 conflicts of interest

[Matnum PI]

Trump finally speaks and... Holy crow.

[Typical Lax Dad]

Trump finally speaks and... Holy crow.

Trump agrees with me....we are like a Third World Country!!

Thanks for your service Donald! You made America like the Congo!

[Typical Lax Dad]

Trump finally speaks and... Holy crow.

From The President of The United States of America...”Poll watchers are sacred in this country”....

[MDlaxfan76]

Trump finally speaks and... Holy crow.

I heard the full thing last night and boy has he gone off his rocker, full bore. Could hardly take a breath.

But hey, he pardoned Flynn at Sydney's behest, so all's good in the world.

Salty, Flynn is an admitted liar, twice admitted in court, under oath. Of course, for some that makes him an "American hero", which is simply SAD.

Poor fellow, a victim you and he and Syd and Billy and Trumpy say, of a dastardly, underhanded investigation...what of?... of secret communications with a foreign adversary with an active campaign to undermine trust in democracy and to effect a US election.

A victim!! Because he lied...

I'm not a lawyer, don't play one on TV, and didn't stay at Holiday Inn last night, but I do find the question of whether a POTUS can pardon someone in order to entice or reward them for not testifying as to a POTUS' culpability in a conspiracy, a cover-up, whether of a crime or a political embarrassment...can a POTUS 'self-deal'??? If this is attempted and such is proven, does the pardon hold-up?

Likewise, I find interesting whether Flynn can be questioned in the future under oath as to such, and if he lies (again in some material way), can he be held accountable to that new perjury? For instance, an ongoing investigation may well reveal that he and Trump spoke in advance or subsequent to the Kislyak discussions...what did Trump know and when did he know it? Flynn would presumably be free to tell the truth about such without legal jeopardy (assuming the pardon broadly covers such past acts...has anyone seen the language?) but a new lie would not be covered...

[Matnum PI]

Trump finally speaks and... Holy crow.

I heard the full thing last night and boy has he gone off his rocker, full bore. Could hardly take a breath...

I feel the same. for me, with a new president elect, i find the contrast between trump and normalcy to heightened. i find it jaw dropping.

[MDlaxfan76]

Trump finally speaks and... Holy crow.

I heard the full thing last night and boy has he gone off his rocker, full bore. Could hardly take a breath...

I feel the same. for me, with a new president elect, i find the contrast between trump and normalcy to heightened. i find it jaw dropping.

agreed that the contrast is all the more heightened...but am I wrong in my sense that this was among Trump's very worst 'off his rocker' diatribe moments? He seems to have gone full bore Q, seriously deranged. I realize there's a lot of this in our populace, but I'm not sure Trump had previously gone so far off the deep end...not that he hadn't many times blown through questions with insults and accusations and victimhood, and of course, the famously absurd 'cleaning the inside' comments, but I don't know that we've heard him go so long in such a disjointed whining, angry way, with such complete detachment from reality...

[CU77]

I watched Matnum's CNN clip, not the whole thing (I can't stand more than a couple of minutes of Trump in one sitting). In that clip, Trump seemed no different than usual to me. Of course he believes there was massive fraud; he said exactly the same thing when Ted Cruz won the Iowa caucuses in 2016. And he's been saying obviously untrue things (birtherism anyone?) for decades. So I'm not seeing any more off-the-rockerism than usual.

[Matnum PI]

...with such complete detachment from reality...

it was odd. undeniably. i thought the "don't talk to me like that. I'm the POTUS..." comment was particularly telling. it sounded like the words of a man realizing he's no longer the POTUS and that he was not a good POTUS (as dictated by losing the election) when he was. just a glass of cold reality splashed in his face.

[Matnum PI]

I watched Matnum's CNN clip, not the whole thing; in that clip, Trump seemed no different than usual to me...

agreed. trump just being trump. but trump being trump post election looks different.

[MDlaxfan76]

I watched Matnum's CNN clip, not the whole thing (I can't stand more than a couple of minutes of Trump in one sitting). In that clip, Trump seemed no different than usual to me. Of course he believes there was massive fraud; he said exactly the same thing when Ted Cruz won the Iowa caucuses in 2016. And he's been saying obviously untrue things (birtherism anyone?) for decades. So I'm not seeing any more off-the-rockerism than usual.

Yes, it was the sheer length and the repetitiveness of the diatribe, not the specifics of any one crazy lie or another. On and on and on and on, over and over again, interrupting himself with asides and diversions from any semblance of cohesive argument. Yes, we've seen these lies and delusions before, it just seemed spectacularly unhinged to me as a whole.

[Brooklyn]

tRUMP temper tantrums:






and this clown has the nerve to demand that all others treat him with respect and cordiality