Donald Trump is the President Mark IV (Read Mod Warning in OP)

everlast75 · 26-07-2018 3:39am

Well here you go folks.

The attempt to shift Rod is happening.

https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1022260265147158528?s=19

Extraordinary stuff. A desperate desperate play, bound for failure.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Thank god the republicans are that inept in everything they do

spacecoyote · 26-07-2018 7:20am

BabyCheeses wrote: »

The supposed concessions are a bit confusing. Soy beans have dropped in price in the US while increasing elsewhere causing the EU to look there for its supply already. Is this just another NATO like deal where they already have an agreeement but Trump thinks it was him?

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-06-27/trade-spat-to-turn-u-s-into-top-soybean-supplier-to-eu-market

I guess we'll see what the talking points are in the next day or two. I'm sure they'll ignore when China said the same thing.

Sounds like the reality of that is purely price driven.

As long as US prices are depressed due to the tariffs reducing demand it makes sense for the EU to buy them. If Braziian prices drop below US then they'll start buying Brazilian again

Rhineshark · 26-07-2018 7:44am

everlast75 wrote: »

Well here you go folks.

The attempt to shift Rod is happening.

https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1022260265147158528?s=19

Extraordinary stuff. A desperate desperate play, bound for failure.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Thank god the republicans are that inept in everything they do

So they make another wild stab at the institutions that protect their democracy.

I hope it doesn't work.

kilns · 26-07-2018 7:47am

Trump does like to make big annoucements to make himself look good. The EU will buy soybeans wherever they are the best price and as for LNG (a business I work in) its not as simple as I will buy from this country. Private companies buy and sell the product all the time and price determines this, nobody will be able to tell any private corporation which country they must buy from, but Trump thinks its as simple as that.
Being where I am, I watch German TV quite a bit and on ZDF, Junker basically said I know Trump I have met him a few times, I know how to handle him - so pathetic that the leader of the USA can be so easily manipulated by other leaders and they can openly brag about it

everlast75 · 26-07-2018 8:10am

Rhineshark wrote: »

So they make another wild stab at the institutions that protect their democracy.

I hope it doesn't work.

The consensus is it won't have the votes to get even going.

The irony of Nunes' Committee demanding more (confidential) documents, when he didn't read the FISA warrants for Page which he demanded

Kiith · 26-07-2018 8:57am

The know this will never pass, but it may give Trump the excuse he wants to move on the investigation. The timing also isn't accidental, with the House being off for a month soon.

It's absolutely mental. Reading some of the excuses for this travesty from Trump supporters actually hurts my brain.

Harika · 26-07-2018 9:21am

What a win for the EU. Trump sells it as success but in reality, he got nothing back. EU says they buy soy beans? Who is buying them as the EU? It will be EU farmers and so on, who will buy because they are cheapest on the market as China is not buying them anymore in retaliation.

Liquid gas, great that the EU takes more. Again the EU is not buying them but companies that cannot be directed here. Also the terminals to take on more of the crude oil don’t exist. More hot air.

The implementation of the trade deal, is basically TTIP without the courts that were wanted by the Americans but not the Europeans. And psst don’t tell him that it was Obama who started that. The negotiations will take a long time as a lot of EU and US people will have a high interest in them and want to avoid to lose competitive grounds.

Also a reform of the WTO? Trump who wanted to dump it is now bound to it.
Thank you Junckers and Trump for bringing yourself in the situation where you lose all cards.
Let's see how long it takes for the twitterpolitician to through a grenade into that.

Captain Obvious · 26-07-2018 9:43am

It's a win for both. EU get what they want and Trump can tell his supporters whatever he wants because they won't know any better.

pixelburp · 26-07-2018 9:46am

I daresay the first time Trump appeared at any international summit or meeting, it must have been a total grenade in the room; stepping back from all the controversy and incompetency for a moment, and to use the parlance of the IT industry, Trump would have appeared the epitome of a 'Disruption' in politics; all the previous playbooks, norms and behaviours going out the window as this brusque, noisy Hearstian tycoon entered the meetings and demanded preference.

Then I guess, everyone realised it was an empty bluff.

It's one thing to be a weak leader and be played by your allies or rivals - at least the self-aware will surround themselves with cohorts better or smarter than themselves - it's another to be a walking example of the Dunning-Kruger effect, to not even possess that self examination & realise you're out of your depth, potentially being played by masters of diplomacy or - in the case of Putin - spycraft. Masters who doubtlessly after that first grenade, went off and read into every boardroom tell-all, rumour, psychological profile, or just gut instinct to understand how to steer Trump - insofar as is possible.

Professor Moriarty · 26-07-2018 10:11am

everlast75 wrote: »

Well here you go folks.

The attempt to shift Rod is happening.

https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1022260265147158528?s=19

Extraordinary stuff. A desperate desperate play, bound for failure.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Thank god the republicans are that inept in everything they do

What idiot appointed him in the first place?

Captain Obvious · 26-07-2018 11:20am

Washington Post reporting over 100 tapes of conversations were seized from Cohen. Not all with Trump but all related to the investigation.

26000 Elephants · 26-07-2018 1:00pm

pixelburp wrote: »

I daresay the first time Trump appeared at any international summit or meeting, it must have been a total grenade in the room; stepping back from all the controversy and incompetency for a moment, and to use the parlance of the IT industry, Trump would have appeared the epitome of a 'Disruption' in politics; all the previous playbooks, norms and behaviours going out the window as this brusque, noisy Hearstian tycoon entered the meetings and demanded preference.

Then I guess, everyone realised it was an empty bluff.

I think Andrew Neil @BBC said it best:

Trump two-step continues:
Nato summit: bluster then retreat
May’s Brexit strategy: bluster, retreat
Helsinki: bluster, retreat
EU trade wars: bluster, retreat

Juncker had the benefit of capitalising on Trumps recent disasters to get TTIP up and running again. While a very worried and sheepish looking Liam Fox scurried around the shadows of Washington.

Captain Obvious · 26-07-2018 5:45pm

Crazy details coming out about hacked voting machines.

https://www.theroot.com/evidence-shows-hackers-changed-votes-in-the-2016-electi-1827871206

A 16-year-old hacker broke into as ExpressPoll voting machine used by Georgia in 45 minutes. Another cyberhacker showed how he could change votes in the WINvote machine used in Virginia, Pennsylvania and Mississippi, with only a computer, a mouse and a Microsoft Word document, as long as he had the password. But the hacker soon discovered that WINvote machines all had the same password.

The password, which could not be changed, was (you might want to take a deep breath) “abcde.”

It's unlikely Trump or the GOP will even acknowledge this stuff for fear it may delegitimise his win. Or maybe they wish to make use of these flaws. Have they done so before? It's pretty telling that they are focusing on voter ID and gerrymandering when they are pretty moot issues compared to someone being able to change the votes after they are being placed. Not to mention their refusal to grant funding to additional protections for the midterms. I think the next decade or so will bring out a lot of revelations about illegitimate or tainted victories in all sorts of elections.

Itssoeasy · 26-07-2018 6:08pm

Captain Obvious wrote: »

Crazy details coming out about hacked voting machines.

https://www.theroot.com/evidence-shows-hackers-changed-votes-in-the-2016-electi-1827871206

It's unlikely Trump or the GOP will even acknowledge this stuff for fear it may delegitimise his win. Or maybe they wish to make use of these flaws. Have they done so before? It's pretty telling that they are focusing on voter ID and gerrymandering when they are pretty moot issues compared to someone being able to change the votes after they are being placed. Not to mention their refusal to grant funding to additional protections for the midterms. I think the next decade or so will bring out a lot of revelations about illegitimate or tainted victories in all sorts of elections.

The password was abcde ? Oh FFS.

amandstu · 26-07-2018 6:20pm

Itssoeasy wrote: »

Captain Obvious wrote: »

Crazy details coming out about hacked voting machines.

https://www.theroot.com/evidence-shows-hackers-changed-votes-in-the-2016-electi-1827871206

It's unlikely Trump or the GOP will even acknowledge this stuff for fear it may delegitimise his win. Or maybe they wish to make use of these flaws. Have they done so before? It's pretty telling that they are focusing on voter ID and gerrymandering when they are pretty moot issues compared to someone being able to change the votes after they are being placed. Not to mention their refusal to grant funding to additional protections for the midterms. I think the next decade or so will bring out a lot of revelations about illegitimate or tainted victories in all sorts of elections.

The password was abcde ? Oh FFS.

Your username was the clue.

dr.fuzzenstein · 26-07-2018 6:21pm

It seems rejecting e-voting in Ireland was a good idea.

amandstu · 26-07-2018 6:23pm

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

It seems rejecting e-voting in Ireland was a good idea.

I was certainly against e-voting.I thought it disrespected the democratic system.

notobtuse · 26-07-2018 6:34pm

Captain Obvious wrote: »

Crazy details coming out about hacked voting machines.

https://www.theroot.com/evidence-shows-hackers-changed-votes-in-the-2016-electi-1827871206

A 16-year-old hacker broke into as ExpressPoll voting machine used by Georgia in 45 minutes. Another cyberhacker showed how he could change votes in the WINvote machine used in Virginia, Pennsylvania and Mississippi, with only a computer, a mouse and a Microsoft Word document, as long as he had the password. But the hacker soon discovered that WINvote machines all had the same password.

The password, which could not be changed, was (you might want to take a deep breath) “abcde.”

It's unlikely Trump or the GOP will even acknowledge this stuff for fear it may delegitimise his win. Or maybe they wish to make use of these flaws. Have they done so before? It's pretty telling that they are focusing on voter ID and gerrymandering when they are pretty moot issues compared to someone being able to change the votes after they are being placed. Not to mention their refusal to grant funding to additional protections for the midterms. I think the next decade or so will bring out a lot of revelations about illegitimate or tainted victories in all sorts of elections.

I stopped reading when I got to this and filed it under Conspiracy Theories:

And despite what Donald Trump, the Kremlin’s Executive in Charge of U.S. Operations, would have you believe…

pixelburp · 26-07-2018 6:35pm

So really at this stage it's a question of 'when' an election was hacked or rigged, not 'if'? This seems like a scandal that might run & run.

mcmoustache · 26-07-2018 7:03pm

notobtuse wrote: »

I stopped reading when I got to this and filed it under Conspiracy Theories:

And despite what Donald Trump, the Kremlin’s Executive in Charge of U.S. Operations, would have you believe…

Thanks for letting us know. Speaking of conspiracy theories, how do you feel about this one now?

notobtuse wrote:

My own view is in about a year we won’t even be talking about Trump/Russian collusion as it will be determined to be a total bogus investigation based on a specious dossier based on information provided by Russian operatives and neither verified or investigated by the FBI before they sought a FISA warrant to spy on a presidential candidate. Instead we will be talking about the greatest scandal in US history involving in the lead up and following a presidential election of the illegal work to take out a candidate and then to try and destroy a dully elected president. The major culprits I forecast will be Hilllary Clinton and her cronies, the DNC, the Clinton Foundation, heads of the FBI, heads of the Department of Justice, and the State Department. History, IMO will judge them harshly... if justice isn't blind, that is.

26000 Elephants · 26-07-2018 7:51pm

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

It seems rejecting e-voting in Ireland was a good idea.

Probably, but not for the reasons outlined in that article. The "hacking" of the machines quoted was not something that would be practical or unnoticed in a live scenario. Good for scare mongering, but over-writing firmware on obsolete, captive terminals is hardly cutting edge cyber attacking.

mcmoustache · 26-07-2018 8:45pm

26000 Elephants wrote: »

Probably, but not for the reasons outlined in that article. The "hacking" of the machines quoted was not something that would be practical or unnoticed in a live scenario. Good for scare mongering, but over-writing firmware on obsolete, captive terminals is hardly cutting edge cyber attacking.

I'd be more wary of who has access to them while they're in storage before elections than I would be about people hacking them in real time.

Then again, I do wonder why the ones in the US tend to be insecure black boxes which is just asking for trouble. Voting machines can actually be designed with security and integrity if desired. One idea that I like is one that runs an open source os and voting program which produces a paper receipt that you place in a ballot box. You'd get an early count but have the paper records there too in the case of disputes. E-voting isn't inherently bad, it's just that it's implemented so badly for whatever reason.

mcmoustache · 26-07-2018 9:32pm

In some funnier news today, the wall street journal describes Juncker's approach to dealing with Trump with regard to trade negotiations.

Mr. Juncker grabbed the opportunity to argue that both sides need to refrain from further punitive tariffs or they would foolishly harm themselves.

“If you want to be stupid,” he told Mr. Trump, “I can be stupid, as well.”

Backing up his points, Mr. Juncker flipped through more than a dozen colorful cue cards with simplified explainers, the senior EU official said. Each card had at most three figures about a specific topic, such as trade in cars or standards for medical devices.

“We knew this wasn’t an academic seminar,” the EU official said. “It had to be very simple.”

While this news is good for a giggle, it confirms something. World leaders agree with Rex Tillerson's profane, yet accurate description of the current US President.

Itssoeasy · 27-07-2018 12:23am

Trump is trump and whenever he leaves the White House he'll probably go back to New York I'd assume. It's the other people in his administration that I'm curious about. These people who are younger than he is and will have to have lives outside of Washington after this.

How the hell will they be able to stand up and defend this crap in years to come ? It's not the policy or whatever else is my main issue with the trump administration(although it is a concern) it's the constant lying that seems to happen every single day more or less. Now are they the first politicians or political party to lie ? No they aren't, but in most western democracies as far as I can see, its spin mixed in with not down right lies, but a massaging of the truth.

If anyone hasn't seen the show yes minister and yes prime minister it gives a scarely accurate dipiction of politics and how it works at least in the UK.

Nox · 27-07-2018 4:06am

Wow … a new thread on President Donald J Trump and all of the haters of the POTUS are ringing their bells again. I notice that virtually every day the MSM have a new 'scandal d' jour' … among them, Helsinki, security clearances, Cohen tapes, missing questions and answers, NOKO missile dismantling (which can be instantly reassembled), and myriad others. Seems to me that something like the Friday GDP numbers and the EU tariff discussions should be paramount but alas they are not. So let us spend more time on the meaningless Cohen tapes and/or the next investigation of the tweets by the useless Special Counsel and see how many more pages of tripe we can add to this new topic.

everlast75 · 27-07-2018 5:42am

Yeah.

So anyway, apparently Cohen is ready to confirm to Mueller that Trump knew in advance about the Trump Tower meeting. If this is true, and lordy if there are tapes, its close to checkmate!?

https://twitter.com/CNN/status/1022648867224014849?s=19

Christy42 · 27-07-2018 7:40am

Does it not still rely on Republicans caring enough? I don't see it. Nor do I see enough of his base flipping to force the issue in November over collusion the Russians.

I mean it absolutely would be a smoking gun in terms of proof but not sure anything will be done.

Captain Obvious · 27-07-2018 8:26am

Nox wrote: »

Wow … a new thread on President Donald J Trump and all of the haters of the POTUS are ringing their bells again. I notice that virtually every day the MSM have a new 'scandal d' jour' … among them, Helsinki, security clearances, Cohen tapes, missing questions and answers, NOKO missile dismantling (which can be instantly reassembled), and myriad others. Seems to me that something like the Friday GDP numbers and the EU tariff discussions should be paramount but alas they are not. So let us spend more time on the meaningless Cohen tapes and/or the next investigation of the tweets by the useless Special Counsel and see how many more pages of tripe we can add to this new topic.

So why don't you discuss them instead of throwing toys out of the pram? The MSM has plenty of coverage of both those stories anyway.

There will be good GDP and growth figures but the question is are they at all sustainable. It's easy to boost figures if you borrow heavily and increase government spending. It's also very likely people are spending more after being told the tax changes will give them back money but how long will that facade last? As to the EU trade talks? A damp squib. Nothing has been agreed formally and, even if the announcements are followed through, it's not a major breakthrough. Trump has simply been talked off a cliff edge and made to relax with a slide show designed for idiots.

So while you are free to revel in those illusions, the very real prospect of the US democracy collapsing is approaching. The first confirmed hack of the 2018 elections was targeted at a democrat only leading her opponent by 1%. A precision strike. The real question is why are reporters having to uncover all this? Why are Trump and GOP actively blocking any discussion or investigation into Russia hacking? It can only be narcissism or collusion. There is no other answer.

Collusion is looking all the more likely. The Russian spy embedded in the NRA with GOP contacts. The GOP senators going to Russia for secret meetings. Trump with his secret meeting and then his support of Putin. And now we have more evidence of collusion during the campaign, from Trumps own lawyer, a man who clearly knew the **** would hit the fan so started to record his own client.

I'm not sure why you don't think this stuff is worth discussing really That the POTUS, the man who controls nearly 50% of the world nuclear arsenal, and many under his administration and in the GOP are, at the very least, so easily manipulated by or, more likely, working with a foreign government. A government with a leader who does not like the EU at all. It seems extremely important to me.

everlast75 · 27-07-2018 9:10am

Christy42 wrote: »

Does it not still rely on Republicans caring enough? I don't see it. Nor do I see enough of his base flipping to force the issue in November over collusion the Russians.

I mean it absolutely would be a smoking gun in terms of proof but not sure anything will be done.

That tape, one of a dozen released (over 100 seized by FBI) IMHO did a lot of damage.
People were fixated on whether Trump said cash or cheque.

The real issues for me were that given the proximity to the election, and the fact that the payment was over 25k, I understand that makes it a federal crime to not disclose the campaign donation. The tape appears to show not just the now President lying to the public about a hush money payment to a playboy bunny he had a 10 month affair with (think about that NOT being enough to sink a president btw), but moreover conspiring to do so.

Secondly, it drags Alan weisselberg trump CFO, into the mix. As a result, he has now been served with a subpoena. He knows everything about Trump's finances, including information regarding this apparent audit which has stopped Trump from releasing his tax returns. He will now be asked about what he knew in connection with the establishment of the LLC and the reasons for it. Did he also conspire, if so, now he is in the mix. Trump is on the record about not having any dealings with Russia, or any loans to Russia too.

Trump has always said his finances were a "red line".

All of the above have nothing to do with the republican party and whether they back him or not. A subpoena can be served on Trump. Granted that will go to the SC but still, he will have a fight there.

And finally, if Cohen testifies and can prove DJT knew about the Trump tower, and say... has a tape.. Donny Jr is in a lot of **** too for lying to Congress.

In addition, we have the trial of Manafort starting without a doubt next week, Butina in the frame, emolument actions progressing, the former Apprentice law suit in which he has to give sworn testimony before January and Avenatti doing a sterling job of waging a PR war on Trump et al.

It's all bubbling away nicely - he has to be feeling the heat now.

Leroy42 · 27-07-2018 9:27am

Not to mention that his Tariff trade wars, that was going to be so easy to win, is turning into the disaster that everyone warned him about. China are targeting theirs directly at the areas to hurt Trump the most, something Trump cannot do with China since they don't care about what the people think.

The long promised wage increases in return for the massive CT and inheritance tax giveaway haven't materialised.

His border wall is still nothing but a few individual slabs of concrete in a desert.

Ivanka's fashion brand is gone. remember that POTUS took time out to attack Nordstrom for daring to drop her label. The most powerful man in the world couldn't even keep his own daughters business afloat.

Donald Trump is the President Mark IV (Read Mod Warning in OP)

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