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/

14 minutes ago, Floyd said:

Trump will win in a landslide this fall - covid will affect mostly poor black Americans and they don’t vote for him 

voter suppression will be in full force and Biden is invisible at a time when he should be scoring points - sad times

That is a frightening possibility, and if i t does happen, we will see a full emergence of a fascist state. And those Americans who either voted for Trump or did not vote against him will bear equal responsibility for that. If Trump loses, there is an equally frightening possibility that he will refuse to leave office citing massive voter fraud, and the Democrats do not seem to have the will to oppose that. 

Edited April 8, 20205 yr by Tracker

If Trump somehow wins the election then it's probably the last even half assed legitimate election the states have. 

Guy is acting like a dictator already and no one is willing to stop him. 

Trump's latest crime spree: With pandemic as cover, he's going for epic corruption

Trump knows he's in trouble, and wants to fire everybody who might stop him looting the place before November.

Donald Trump is on a search-and-destroy mission to remove anyone who might get in the way of him committing more crimes or using the federal government as a personal piggybank for himself and his friends. And he's using the coronavirus pandemic as a cover, knowing that both the media and Congress are too busy dealing with the crisis to prioritize Trump's obsession with maximizing his level of criminality and corruption.

Last week, with the media preoccupied with rising death tolls and exploding unemployment figures, Trump fired Michael Atkinson, the inspector general for intelligence services, as a clear cut act of revenge against Atkinson for reporting the original Ukraine whistleblower complaint to Congress last summer. That complaint, of course, exposed Trump's criminal conspiracy to blackmail Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky into a phony investigation of former Vice President Joe Biden, who is now certain to be Trump's Democratic opponent in the 2020 election. (Bernie Sanders officially suspended his campaign on Wednesday.) The result was Trump's impeachment by the House of Representatives, which should have led to his removal from office — if Senate Republicans weren't willing to sign off on any crime he wishes to commit.

Trump described Atkinson as "not a big Trump fan, I can tell you," as if that justified firing an inspector general who fulfilled his legal responsibility to report a president's potentially criminal actions to Congress. 

On Tuesday, Trump removed another inspector general, Glenn Fine, who oversees the Defense Department. Fine was originally set to chair the committee that oversees how the $2 trillion in coronavirus relief funds will be disbursed. Trump would like to replace him with Jason Abend, a Customs and Border Protection official. This move, coupled with reports that Trump is appointing Brian Miller, one of his personal lawyers — who has publicly sneered at the idea that Congress should have the power to hold the executive branch accountable— as the special inspector general overseeing stimulus spending should make the president's intentions clear.

As Democrats have warned, Trump clearly wants to treat the stimulus fund, which is supposed to mitigate the nation's economic collapse, as a slush fund for his rich supporters. One by one, he's eliminating anyone he perceives as an obstacle to that goal.  

During Monday's propaganda rally and/or press briefing, Trump lashed out angrily when ABC News reporter Jon Karl asked him about a report from the Health and Human Services inspector general that detailed Trump's massive failures to help the medical community deal with the onslaught of COVID-19 patients. 

"Did I hear the word 'inspector general?" Trump ranted. "Could politics be entered into that?"

Translating Trump's incoherent ramblings isn't fun for anyone, but his implication was clear — any inspector general who wasn't hand-picked by him is motivated by "politics" and therefore can't be trusted. What HHS inspector general Christi Grimm had in fact concluded was that Trump's handling of the coronavirus crisis has been incompetent, which is about as controversial as observing that cats have whiskers. 

 

Edited April 8, 20205 yr by Tracker

This is key.  Trump doesn’t even realize that the pandemic has actually been helpful for him.  The economic disaster won’t be.  And when Biden really begins reminding Americans why a failure he is, it won’t be either.  
 

The Dems have to be unified.  Everyone of them has to be out campaigning and funneling their supporters to Biden.  Generating new voters for Biden.   A wave.  

39 minutes ago, The Unknown Poster said:

This is key.  Trump doesn’t even realize that the pandemic has actually been helpful for him.  The economic disaster won’t be.  And when Biden really begins reminding Americans why a failure he is, it won’t be either.  
 

The Dems have to be unified.  Everyone of them has to be out campaigning and funneling their supporters to Biden.  Generating new voters for Biden.   A wave.  

I agree to an extent but there has to be more than a watered-down version of Trump to galvanize voters. Biden has all the charisma of a postage stamp and his voting record on progressive issues is much closer to Trump than, say, Elizabeth Warren's. Biden has been solidly supportive of Wall Street and big business, so the chances of him reversing the giveaways to these and hiking their taxes to something approaching rational levels is pretty low. Had the Democrats chosen Warren and Sanders, they would have been well positioned for the next ten years, but that moment has slipped away. They have opted for "safety" instead.

1 hour ago, Tracker said:

I agree to an extent but there has to be more than a watered-down version of Trump to galvanize voters. Biden has all the charisma of a postage stamp and his voting record on progressive issues is much closer to Trump than, say, Elizabeth Warren's. Biden has been solidly supportive of Wall Street and big business, so the chances of him reversing the giveaways to these and hiking their taxes to something approaching rational levels is pretty low. Had the Democrats chosen Warren and Sanders, they would have been well positioned for the next ten years, but that moment has slipped away. They have opted for "safety" instead.

If they had chosen sanders they’d have lost.  I’d generally steer clear of Putin’s top picks.   Warren was the obvious pick but interesting her numbers declined when she got aggressive.  The b-word problem is real among far too many voters (including an alarming number of women)

1 hour ago, Tracker said:

I agree to an extent but there has to be more than a watered-down version of Trump to galvanize voters. Biden has all the charisma of a postage stamp and his voting record on progressive issues is much closer to Trump than, say, Elizabeth Warren's. Biden has been solidly supportive of Wall Street and big business, so the chances of him reversing the giveaways to these and hiking their taxes to something approaching rational levels is pretty low. Had the Democrats chosen Warren and Sanders, they would have been well positioned for the next ten years, but that moment has slipped away. They have opted for "safety" instead.

They have opted to protect their own side of the donor class.....

28 minutes ago, The Unknown Poster said:

If they had chosen sanders they’d have lost.  I’d generally steer clear of Putin’s top picks.   Warren was the obvious pick but interesting her numbers declined when she got aggressive.  The b-word problem is real among far too many voters (including an alarming number of women)

Where do you get the idea that Sanders was a Putin favourite?

Trump launches remarkably transparent effort to divide Democrats after Bernie Sanders bows outGage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America [CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)]

 

Written by Eoin Higgins / Common Dreams April 8, 2020

President Donald Trump wasted no time in attempting to create divisions between Democrats, calling on supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders to join the GOP less than an hour after the Vermont lawmaker announced he was suspending his campaign for president—leaving former Vice President Joe Biden a clear shot at the nomination.

Trump said in a tweet after Sanders’ announcement that Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) was to blame for his failed campaign and said it all ended “just like the Democrats and the DNC wanted”—an obvious attempt to intra-party tensions.

“This guy is nothing if not a skilled provocateur,” tweeted journalist Doug Henwood.

Doug Henwood@DougHenwood

This guy is nothing if not a skilled provocateur. https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1247914464319504385 …

Donald J. Trump

 

✔@realDonaldTrump

 

Bernie Sanders is OUT! Thank you to Elizabeth Warren. If not for her, Bernie would have won almost every state on Super Tuesday! This ended just like the Democrats & the DNC wanted, same as the Crooked Hillary fiasco. The Bernie people should come to the Republican Party, TRADE!

 

18 minutes ago, Tracker said:

Where do you get the idea that Sanders was a Putin favourite?

Lots of the Russian bots were used to promote sanders.  I don’t think he was a witting Russian asset but he was definitely Putin’s pick for the Dems. 

18 minutes ago, The Unknown Poster said:

Lots of the Russian bots were used to promote sanders.  I don’t think he was a witting Russian asset but he was definitely Putin’s pick for the Dems. 

Sanders has never been partial to Putin, so if this was done, it was to promote dissent and division within the Democrats.

Edited April 8, 20205 yr by Tracker

It's incredible that the networks and cable news put a crazy moronic imbecile on television everyday, flaunting medicine that he has not idea about and trying to re invent what he has said in the past.

11 hours ago, FrostyWinnipeg said:

2nd place to a guy in his 70s during Covid19 not bad but the real backup plan is Mayor Pete.

The plan is Cuomo.  Biden is a dud.

4 hours ago, Tracker said:

Sanders has never been partial to Putin, so if this was done, it was to promote dissent and division within the Democrats.

This Sanders/Putin thing was announced by the Whitehouse as a distraction...

Trump was far more scared of Bernie than any other Dem...  Bernie is a leftwing populist - exactly the type that would get elected.

Biden is already trying to be non-partisan with Trump and getting suckered in... just like the Dems do every single time - Charlie Brown syndrome

37 minutes ago, Floyd said:

This Sanders/Putin thing was announced by the Whitehouse as a distraction...

Trump was far more scared of Bernie than any other Dem...  Bernie is a leftwing populist - exactly the type that would get elected.

Biden is already trying to be non-partisan with Trump and getting suckered in... just like the Dems do every single time - Charlie Brown syndrome

No way. trump wanted Bernie. trump's entire reelection team wanted Bernie. Most GOP strategists wanted Bernie. 

Putin wanted Bernie. 

No one wanted Biden. 

 

I totally agree with you about Bernie being the left wing populist and he would have destroyed trump.

 

29 minutes ago, wanna-b-fanboy said:

No way. trump wanted Bernie. trump's entire reelection team wanted Bernie. Most GOP strategists wanted Bernie. 

Putin wanted Bernie. 

No one wanted Biden. 

I totally agree with you about Bernie being the left wing populist and he would have destroyed trump.

Especially the voters...

I admit to being biased, but I believe that a Sanders-Warren Democratic ticket would have been overwhelmingly popular. This convergence of a GOP fool in the White House, economic downturn and health crisis may not come again for decades. There was a real chance for the US to have a decent minimum wage, universal health care and ecological sanity, but that moment is slipping away. The Democrats should be pillorying Trump and his pack of fools to point out how they are responsible for thousands of deaths and the onset of an economic collapse rivaling the dirty thirties, but they are largely silent,

9 hours ago, Floyd said:

This Sanders/Putin thing was announced by the Whitehouse as a distraction...

Trump was far more scared of Bernie than any other Dem...  Bernie is a leftwing populist - exactly the type that would get elected.

Biden is already trying to be non-partisan with Trump and getting suckered in... just like the Dems do every single time - Charlie Brown syndrome

Where do you get that from?  Trump desperately wanted Bernie.  A far left, super old, major health issues....he was the perfect candidate for Trump.   Why you think a left wing populist is a sure fire to win, I dont know.   The Russian bots all wanted Bernie.  Trump extorted Ukraine to hurt Biden.  Biden is the guy he's afraid of because he sees him as an extension of Obama and Trump is desperately afraid of Obama and feels tiny next to him.  

8 hours ago, Floyd said:

Especially the voters...

Except all the polls that have him creaming everyone.  And, ya know, being the presumptive nominee.  Sometimes coming here feels like the twilight zone or something.  Remove emotion and partisanship out of it and look at black & facts.  Biden was never my favourite either.  But to suggest no one favoured him, no want supports him and he has no chance is to deny facts.

Biden's running mate will be a huge factor in his chances of winning the Presidency, but the Dems can't forget about taking the Senate, that's where real change can happen

Down voting was a big reason all Republicans wanted Bernie.....so they could tar all Democrat candidates, for House and Senate, with the ole crazed socialist label.  Biden would work best as some sort of rational, calming daddy figurehead.....spark and fire (as well as the bare knuckles) will have to be provided by the VP pick

A right-wing commentator interviewed Jerry Falwell Jr. during his show Wednesday, where Falwell said that there were two arrest warrants open for reporters who came onto Liberty University’s campus.

Upon further examination of the warrant, the police officer who signed the warrant was Detective/Sgt. A.B. Wilkins 206 LUPD. The LUPD is not the Lynchburg Police Department nor is there a Sgt. or Detective A.B. Wilkins. It’s the police department under the authority of Liberty University.

Warrants are typically issued by a judge who directs an arresting officer to execute the warrant. No judge appears to have signed the warrant nor is there a judge mentioned, though the warrant does cite the Lynchburg, Virginia courthouse. The warrant also doesn’t appear to be certified by the clerk that it was submitted to the court. Clerks generally stamp documents when received.

The accused reporters, ProPublica reporter Alec MacGillis and a New York Times photographer Julia Rendleman were accused of trespassing on the campus. The warrant called it a “class 1 misdemeanor,” which, according to Virginia law “is punishable by up to 12 months in jail, a fine of up to $2,500, or both.”

1 hour ago, do or die said:

Down voting was a big reason all Republicans wanted Bernie.....so they could tar all Democrat candidates, for House and Senate, with the ole crazed socialist label.  Biden would work best as some sort of rational, calming daddy figurehead.....spark and fire (as well as the bare knuckles) will have to be provided by the VP pick

Yeah, I didnt love the Biden pick either.  Didnt like the optics of old white guy.  But his polling was top notch from day one.  And remember, his President, Obama, has said virtually nothing yet.  He will.

Biden will win and will be a one term President.  His VP pick is so important.  I think Kamala is a likely choice (but there are others).  Whomever becomes VP is the presumptive President in 2024.  

2 hours ago, The Unknown Poster said:

Why you think a left wing populist is a sure fire to win

Because they elected a right wing populist last time, and honestly given how shitty that worked out I think a left wing populist certainly would have had wide ranging appeal across all sorts of people. 

Honestly I know you think this moderate **** is where it's at, but there is no moderate in the United States, which is why populism is becoming more what people are looking for. 

 

Biden inspires no one. He will win because Trump is a tremendous **** up pissing everyone off, but he's a terrible candidate at this time. 4 years ago maybe he'd be better but he's losing his mind and same old same old isn't going to appeal to anyone other than the establishment. 

1 minute ago, 17to85 said:

Because they elected a right wing populist last time, and honestly given how shitty that worked out I think a left wing populist certainly would have had wide ranging appeal across all sorts of people. 

Honestly I know you think this moderate **** is where it's at, but there is no moderate in the United States, which is why populism is becoming more what people are looking for. 

 

Biden inspires no one. He will win because Trump is a tremendous **** up pissing everyone off, but he's a terrible candidate at this time. 4 years ago maybe he'd be better but he's losing his mind and same old same old isn't going to appeal to anyone other than the establishment. 

Its possible that Biden will flop.  But he's been the front runner from day one.  So all those left wing populists just werent carrying the polling.  Id get behind Warren.  But Crazy Bernie is just too easy to frame as a nut.  It swings moderates to Trump.  Remember, there are going to be a lot of right leaning voters that voted from Trump because he was the conservative candidate that will not want to vote for him this time.  Holding your nose and voting Dem is one thing.  Voting for Bernie?  Not happening.

Biden might flop and lose.  Bernie would have lost.  He'd have been a fantastic cheerleader for the left and for a lot of amazing and needed reforms and policies.  And everyone would cheer him on.  And they could feel really good about it.  And they'd lose.

If there is a sense that Bernie supporters wont vote for Biden, then they're crazy, plain and simple.  You dont vote for Trump or stay home (which is a vote for Trump) because you'd rather the alt right racist serial sexual abuser win than the Democrat who just isnt left enough.

Wait til the party really begins campaigning.  Who's voting against 4 more years of Obama?  No one and once he's in this thing, look out.