dagblog - Comments for "#1 story @ WaPo: "Trump is out of control""

Trump calls House healthcare

artappraiser — Tue, 13 Jun 2017 22:37:51 +0000

In reply to #1 story @ WaPo: "Trump is out of control"

Trump calls House healthcare bill 'mean'

President as dumb blonde?

Karl Rove: ‘Trump lacks the

artappraiser — Fri, 09 Jun 2017 04:21:03 +0000

In reply to #1 story @ WaPo: "Trump is out of control"

Karl Rove: ‘Trump lacks the focus or self-discipline to do the basic work required of a president’

@ TheHill.com, 06/08/17 10:04 PM EDT

Karl Rove, a former senior adviser to President George W. Bush, slammed President Trump on Wednesday, saying that the real estate mogul "lacks the focus or self-discipline to do the basic work required of a president."

"His chronic impulsiveness is apparently unstoppable and clearly self-defeating," Rove wrote in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal. "Mr. Trump may have mastered the modes of communication, but not the substance, thereby sabotaging his own agenda."

Rove took particular aim at a series of tweets launched by Trump on Monday that appeared to undermine his Justice Department's argument for an executive order barring citizens of six Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S.

Trump's insistence in the tweets that the U.S. has already implemented "extreme vetting" measures on travelers from certain countries, according to Rove, reveals that president's own lack of understanding about his administration's work.

"On May 8, a federal appeals court asked a Justice Department lawyer if the administration was drafting new vetting standards. He responded: 'We’ve put our pens down,'" Rove wrote.

"Mr. Trump seems to think the pens are down because the new vetting standards are written. Meantime, his lawyers say the government hasn’t started working on them."

Rove also blasted Trump's argument for withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris climate accord last week [....]

Trump Sabotages His Middle

artappraiser — Thu, 08 Jun 2017 03:08:07 +0000

In reply to #1 story @ WaPo: "Trump is out of control"

Trump Sabotages His Middle East Alliance

By Robin Wright @NewYorker.com's News Desk, June 7

On Tuesday, in a series of startling tweets, Trump threw the leader of oil-rich Qatar under the diplomatic bus.

Robinson's op-ed was popular

artappraiser — Wed, 07 Jun 2017 20:54:12 +0000

In reply to #1 story @ WaPo: "Trump is out of control"

Robinson's op-ed was popular because it caught the zeitgeist:

....poll....conducted from May 31 to June 6, also found that a large majority of respondents — 68 percent — believe that the president is “not level-headed” (29 percent say he is). Even among members of his own party, this holds true: 64 percent of Republicans say Trump is not level-headed, while 32 percent think he is.

Majorities of respondents similarly told Quinnipiac that Trump is not honest; does not have good leadership skills; does not care about average Americans; and does not share their values. Sixty-two percent described him as a strong person and 57 percent said he is intelligent.....

from Trump approval rating hits new low in Quinnipiac poll

@ Politico.com, 06/07/2017 02:05 PM EDT

Moments later, faced with a

artappraiser — Wed, 07 Jun 2017 18:30:18 +0000

In reply to #1 story @ WaPo: "Trump is out of control"

Moments later, faced with a question about Trump’s comments on Qatar, Spicer read carefully from a piece of paper to clarify the president’s remarks.

“The U.S. still wants to see this issue de-escalated and resolved immediately,” he said.

from Trump’s aides are quickly learning they speak for the president at their own peril

From the travel ban to the FBI director’s firing to new conflict in the Middle East, Trump has undercut his aides and Cabinet secretaries by contradicting their statements. @ WaPo June 7.

My attempt at translation: Trump to staff: when I, Trump, say stupid things, you are to straighten things out without implying that the trouble was because of what I said. So that I can continue to say off-the-cuff things whenever it suits me. Because most of what I say will be brilliant manipulation; uninformed intuitive knee jerk is what I do, I don't listen to experts and don't bother with details, deal with it.

Very surprising and

artappraiser — Wed, 07 Jun 2017 18:05:25 +0000

In reply to #1 story @ WaPo: "Trump is out of control"

Very surprising and encouraging numbers to me:

Another 53 percent said his Twitter use undermines US standing in the world. The poll found that 51 percent of all voters said Trump's tweets imperiled national security.

from

The Twitter presidency is getting old, according to a new voter survey @ ArsTechnica, June 7.

Indicates half of the country's voters gets the idea of what's going on with his tweets making a mess of foreign policy. Lots of polls in the past Obama and Bush years made it seem that only a dismayingly small percentage gets what's going on in foreign policy. Not to mention suggests they have a deeper understand what's going on with Twitter et.al. than a lot of pundits suggest. Maybe social media helps a lot more people "get" what's going on while at the same time it influences others in the wrong direction?

Now that we all know a lot

artappraiser — Wed, 07 Jun 2017 14:45:20 +0000

In reply to On the law firms rejecting

Now that we all know a lot more about what his behavior is like, Trump is really a nightmare legal client, the worst imaginable for them, it's just that simple. Like perfect for a parody for the annual bar association dinner: worst client evah...

On the law firms rejecting

Obey — Wed, 07 Jun 2017 14:18:07 +0000

In reply to Phillip Bump @ WaPo has made

On the law firms rejecting Trump as a client: (from TPM)

“He deserves representation. Everybody does. But if I got the telephone call, the answer would be no,” said Lanny Davis, the White House special counsel in charge of political and legal controversies during Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial. “There are people who say, ‘Davis, you’d represent anyone.” But the answer is no, I would not.”

Since leaving the White House, Davis’ list of controversial clients include the dictatorsof Equatorial Guinea and the Ivory Coast, and Penn State, which he advised on rebuilding its image after its child molestation scandal.

Hilarious.

Shock, no awe:

artappraiser — Wed, 07 Jun 2017 05:51:29 +0000

In reply to #1 story @ WaPo: "Trump is out of control"

Shock, no awe:

[....] Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was left stunned and speechless when told by reporters of Trump’s tweets.

Told by a reporter that Trump accused Qatar of being a state sponsor of terrorism, Corker responded, in a notably lower register, “The president?” [.....]

Asked Tuesday how that statement squares with Trump’s tweets, the Pentagon had no answer.

“I can’t help you with that,” Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis said in response to a question about reconciling the president’s tweets with the earlier government statements.

No one appeared more stunned than Corker, however, who had a blank look for about 10 seconds when he was told the president had posted the tweets about Qatar on Tuesday morning.

“I, um, I want to go back and see specifically what he has said,” Corker finally said. A reporter later showed the chairman the presidential tweets on her phone, prompting him to shake his head [....]

A former U.S. diplomat in the region said the inconsistencies between Trump’s tweets Tuesday and Tillerson and Mattis’s statements Monday would make it difficult for U.S. diplomats to do their jobs.

“Clearly SecDef and SecState were trying to put the focus on diffusing the crisis and not taking any clear sides; the president’s tweets do change that,” the diplomat told The Hill. “When you’re out there in a different time zone, it’s very difficult if the messages from Washington aren’t consistent. You can use different words, but having the same themes is very important [....]

from Rebecca Kheel & Ellen Mitchell in Trump’s diplomacy-by-Twitter sets off firestorm @ TheHill.com, June 6

Fox host to Trump: ‘Fake news

artappraiser — Wed, 07 Jun 2017 05:15:04 +0000

In reply to #1 story @ WaPo: "Trump is out of control"

Fox host to Trump: ‘Fake news media’ isn’t the issue, it’s you

@ The Hill, June 6 (with video)

Fox News host Neil Cavuto on Tuesday hit President Trump for his criticism of media outlets' coverage of his Twitter habits. “Mr. President, it’s not the fake news media that’s your problem,” he said on Fox. “It’s you. It’s not just your tweeting, it’s your scapegoating. It’s your refusal to see that sometimes you’re the one who’s feeding your own beast and acting beastly with your own guys.

“Look at the critiques you’re now hearing from usually friendly and supportive allies as sort of like an intervention. Because firing off these angry missives and tweets risks your political discussion.” [....]