Lets see if we can keep this thread a little more civil.

I found this interview very interesting.  A lot of soft balls thrown at Trump, he explained his back pedalling on his more extreme issues as a lot of his claims as opening bids for negotiation purposes.  Which .. whatever .. I still think that those are insincere claims he used to get elected.

He does now come across way more presidential then he did prior to the election.  A lot of his noise, yelling, and rhetoric has been scaled back.

Do respect this one though:

Quote

 

Lesley Stahl: Are you gonna take the salary, the president’s salary?

Donald Trump: Well, I’ve never commented on this, but the answer is no. I think I have to by law take $1, so I’ll take $1 a year. But it’s a -- I don’t even know what it is.

Donald Trump: Do you know what the salary is?

Lesley Stahl: $400,000 you’re giving up.

Donald Trump: No, I’m not gonna take the salary. I’m not taking it.

 

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-donald-trump-family-melania-ivanka-lesley-stahl/

7 minutes ago, TrueBlue4ever said:

Wow.

Because it has absolutely nothing to do with the Mueller investigation. 

3 minutes ago, pigseye said:

Because it has absolutely nothing to do with the Mueller investigation. 

Ummm I think being a criminal probably does have something to do with it.  lol  wow is right.

1 hour ago, The Unknown Poster said:

pelosi sent trump a letter basically disinviting him from giving the state of the union.  Several Dems were invited to the White House today and declined  until government reopens  

 

 

You know, going back to the video of the day Trump invited Pelosi and Schumer to the Oval office, you can just see the smug glee on Schumer's face the moment Trump says "I will own the shutdown, be proud to shut down the government, and won't blame you for it". They knew his ego would not allow him to lose an argument in front of the cameras for fear of looking weak, and totally baited him with the shutdown option. Trump, rather than getting into a debate about what type of security was needed, jumped right to the options of "keep the government open while we negotiate and you'll never give it to me, so I look weak and not the dealmaker I claim to be", or "I say I don't want a shutdown and (a) show that I am agreeing with Dems, which I can't do ,and (b) then stonewall, and I'm a liar", so he went for the nuclear option of "I will be a leader and shut down until I get what I want, because I am the Commander in Chief and I am in control, and you can't show me to be weak by agreeing that I'm afraid to shut it down" not thinking the Dems would call his bluff. Schumer almost seemed surprised that it was so easy to trap him this way. No wonder Trump's handlers were deathly afraid of him testifying in person to Mueller and demanded written questions that Trump could take his time with to consider his answers, imagine how quickly Trump would have folded under THAT questioning.

I think the Dems should accept the invite to the White House. Let Trump meet them, say they have a spending Bill in the House to re-open the government that has already passed, and want McConnell to do his job and put it before the Senate for a vote. Trump will parrot his same line of "if I open Government will you give me my wall", they say no we want a proper vote on our bill first and he storms out again. Same effect as not going, but it looks like you at least are prepared to meet and re-open discussions and Trump is just doing the same blocking. At this point, everyone knows there is no negotiating to be had, it's all about who is working to open Government and who is working to keep it closed. Trump is trying to change the narrative with his "I am in the White House waiting and they don't want to negotiate" tweets, so cut that argument off at the knees by agreeing to meet - you know he will storm out angrily within 2 minutes, then re-tweet his message with the follow-up "WE did try again, but who walked out again with no discussion? We are not the problem" It's not overkill, public has short attention span, and the media wants a new story, so re-play the old one to keep it fresh. JMO.

2 minutes ago, TrueBlue4ever said:

You know, going back to the video of the day Trump invited Pelosi and Schumer to the Oval office, you can just see the smug glee on Schumer's face the moment Trump says "I will own the shutdown, be proud to shut down the government, and won't blame you for it". They knew his ego would not allow him to lose an argument in front of the cameras for fear of looking weak, and totally baited him with the shutdown option. Trump, rather than getting into a debate about what type of security was needed, jumped right to the options of "keep the government open while we negotiate and you'll never give it to me, so I look weak and not the dealmaker I claim to be", or "I say I don't want a shutdown and (a) show that I am agreeing with Dems, which I can't do ,and (b) then stonewall, and I'm a liar", so he went for the nuclear option of "I will be a leader and shut down until I get what I want, because I am the Commander in Chief and I am in control, and you can't show me to be weak by agreeing that I'm afraid to shut it down" not thinking the Dems would call his bluff. Schumer almost seemed surprised that it was so easy to trap him this way. No wonder Trump's handlers were deathly afraid of him testifying in person to Mueller and demanded written questions that Trump could take his time with to consider his answers, imagine how quickly Trump would have folded under THAT questioning.

I think the Dems should accept the invite to the White House. Let Trump meet them, say they have a spending Bill in the House to re-open the government that has already passed, and want McConnell to do his job and put it before the Senate for a vote. Trump will parrot his same line of "if I open Government will you give me my wall", they say no we want a proper vote on our bill first and he storms out again. Same effect as not going, but it looks like you at least are prepared to meet and re-open discussions and Trump is just doing the same blocking. At this point, everyone knows there is no negotiating to be had, it's all about who is working to open Government and who is working to keep it closed. Trump is trying to change the narrative with his "I am in the White House waiting and they don't want to negotiate" tweets, so cut that argument off at the knees by agreeing to meet - you know he will storm out angrily within 2 minutes, then re-tweet his message with the follow-up "WE did try again, but who walked out again with no discussion? We are not the problem" It's not overkill, public has short attention span, and the media wants a new story, so re-play the old one to keep it fresh. JMO.

Yeah they could be overly generous to Trump but really, as you said, they have the Oval Office meeting where Trump staked his claim to owning the Shut Down.  And they have the Situation Room meeting where Trump flat out admitted he wouldn't negotiate for fear of looking weak and then stormed out.  So, this whole thing is on Trump and the Senate who is protecting him.  

Just now, The Unknown Poster said:

Yeah they could be overly generous to Trump but really, as you said, they have the Oval Office meeting where Trump staked his claim to owning the Shut Down.  And they have the Situation Room meeting where Trump flat out admitted he wouldn't negotiate for fear of looking weak and then stormed out.  So, this whole thing is on Trump and the Senate who is protecting him.  

No doubt, but don't give him any ammo for his base by letting him say "I want to work this out, the Dems are now ignoring me - their fault, they own the shutdown" Trump is so quick to anger there is really no danger to accepting the meeting. He will walk out first. The Dems can't just sit back and be quiet. In today's world noise and spin control a lot of what the public believes to be true. Keep pointing out the fact that he had 2 years with a Republican controlled House and still couldn't get the votes then. People who are out of work want to see at least one side trying to negotiate .Trump says so much garbage you forget what he said last week, so get him to repeat some of his rants for a fresh week of attack.

A lot of them can support his race-baiting and fleecing of the American people but they won't support delays in getting their entitlements. When his supporters, the lot of them, turn on him, it's going to be messy. 

1 hour ago, The Unknown Poster said:

Another win for Russia. 

 

I think this gif is going to get a lot of mileage... 

 

1 hour ago, The Unknown Poster said:

Ummm I think being a criminal probably does have something to do with it.  lol  wow is right.

And when Mueller lays charges, he will be charged with a crime, until then, everything is speculation and your hatred of the man. 

5 minutes ago, pigseye said:

And when Mueller lays charges, he will be charged with a crime, until then, everything is speculation and your hatred of the man. 

I dont hate anyone.  I dont know him.  But I also wouldnt fall deeply in love with him like you have.

You blew yourself out of the water by saying you dont care if he's a racist or a criminal.  We now know where your red line is, there isnt one.  Whats done is done.

4 minutes ago, The Unknown Poster said:

You blew yourself out of the water by saying you dont care if he's a racist or a criminal.  We now know where your red line is, there isnt one.  Whats done is done.

And you are incapable of distinguishing between the court of public opinion and the Mueller investigation. When Mueller charges him I will admit you were right about him all along, fair enough? 

 

14 minutes ago, pigseye said:

And you are incapable of distinguishing between the court of public opinion and the Mueller investigation. When Mueller charges him I will admit you were right about him all along, fair enough? 

 

That wasnt at all what you were talking about.  You came here to create a wild narrative of the FBI being out to get him, linking an article for support that didnt back up your claims.  You then argued with other people that it didnt matter what Mueller found on Trump because he could do whatever he wanted to as President.  And then followed that up by publicly declaring that his racism and/or criminality didnt matter anyway.

What more is there to discuss?  You're wrong on the facts and you've already stated it wouldnt matter to you anyway.  

22 minutes ago, pigseye said:

And you are incapable of distinguishing between the court of public opinion and the Mueller investigation. When Mueller charges him I will admit you were right about him all along, fair enough? 

 

But looking at what the Mueller investigation has already unearthed how can you question if Trump is guilty or not? The only questions are how the office of president and the Republican party will protect him from the crimes he is implicated in.

3 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

But looking at what the Mueller investigation has already unearthed how can you question if Trump is guilty or not? The only questions are how the office of president and the Republican party will protect him from the crimes he is implicated in.

And he's already been named an unindicted co-conspirator in the campaign finance violations.  The only reason he wasnt indicted for that felony is because he's the President.  We can debate how bad that charge would be, but we can't debate the fact of it.

But some people just keep moving the goal post.  Wasnt it this same person who came into this thread like a year ago and attacked the Mueller investigation for finding nothing and saying it was time for it to end?   

The goal post will eventually be "yeah but is he ACTUALLY in PRISON right now?  If he's not behind bars at this moment, then he's TOTALLY INNOCENT of everything ever."  And then eventually the goal post will be "it doesnt matter that he was tried and convicted or that there is a mountain of evidence, he denies it and so its not true."

I mean, OJ Simpson was innocent too and is a really awesome guy.

22 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

But looking at what the Mueller investigation has already unearthed how can you question if Trump is guilty or not? The only questions are how the office of president and the Republican party will protect him from the crimes he is implicated in.

Trumps crimes will have to be something more than campaign finance violations for his base to turn away from him. That's why I said I hoped Mueller finds evidence of collusion because that would be enough for his base and the GOP to turn on him and throw him to the wolves. Petty crimes, which had nothing to do with interference or collusion, the GOP will protect him from, collusion is as good as treason though. 

In recent US politics news, the FBI  has documented that they warned the Trump campaign in mid-2016 that Russia was trying to influence the election through the Republican party in general and the Trump election committee. They advised the committee that they were obligated to report any further contact with the Russians to the FBI, but the FBI has hard evidence that there were subsequent contacts that went unreported. Further, the FBI has stated that Manafort had contact with someone in the White House during the time he was "cooperating" with Mueller. Manafort is looking at some serious jail time- up to 20 years. However, Trump's proposed AG, Barr, has made ambiguous statements as whether he would allow vigorous investigation and prosecution of a sitting president.

And there you have it 

 

Holy smokes.   Rudy just got roasted on cnn. Total train wreck. 

Click for the full tweet thread.  Wow 

 

Sick and tired of all this collusion stuff...... 

Let's talk conspiracy. 

9 hours ago, do or die said:

Sick and tired of all this collusion stuff...... 

Let's talk conspiracy. 

Rudy moving the goal posts yet again to soften the public up to accept that the campaign DID conspire with Russia.  The next goal post movement will be "sure Trump knew about it, but he didnt know it was illegal so so what".

The Dems agreed to a re-vote but lol

 

Haha White House response to Pelosi telling trump to postpone the state of the union. 

Sounds like it was written by a moron 

 

I wouldn't want either idiot running the country. The USA needs a good old fashioned military coup. 

Keep in mind, Trump's immature response also reveals the travel plans of the 3rd in line into a dangerous area.  Did he really think that was going to make him look tough?  Makes him look childish.

 

 The Trump Administration is constantly balancing a fine line..... between mendacity and incompetence. 

36 minutes ago, pigseye said:

I wouldn't want either idiot running the country. The USA needs a good old fashioned military coup. 

If you want things run like a real banana republic.....no worries, as the appropriate leader is already in place.