Donald Trump's Fatal Errors

[PalJoey]

Posted: 2/10/17 at 4:10pm

 

Fun article on Politico below about the 3 key mistakes Trump made in rolling out his ill-advised Muslim travel ban.

The article doesn't even mention that zero Americans were killed by people from the countries Trump banned, while thousands of American were killed by people from countries he did NOT ban--countries like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. He also left off the ban countries in which he has business interests, like Egypt and (again) Saudi Arabia.

But I thought it would be fun to start a thread in which we catalog the many fatal mistakes of soon-to-be-impeached-and-convicted President Donald Trump: not merely things we dislike, but unconstitutional and illegal actions he takes that will inevitably lead, as they always do in Shakespearean tragedies, to his ultimate and unavoidable downfall.

 

POLITICO: 3 key Trump mistakes that led to the travel ban court defeat

 



 

[madbrian]

Posted: 2/10/17 at 4:24pm

The willingness of the GOP to kowtow to Trump makes me wonder just what he would have to do for them to begin impeachment proceedings.  Few have spoken out against him, and the never Trump folks in the Senate, like Sasse and Flake, have voted for each of his Cabinet nominees.  Most of the House are in such gerrymandered districts they fear nothing from the left, only being primaried.  I've said this on other threads, but I don't think much will happen until rank-and-file Republican voters finally wake up and realize they've been conned.

Price's seat is up in a special election in April; that may be the first real indicator of a sea change.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 2/10/17 at 4:29pm

 

My thinking is that they will use him to get through as much of their conservative agenda as possible in the least amount of time--and then they will wait for any one of his many conflicts of interest to influence public opinion. Once a sufficient percentage of the public has turned, they will abandon him to the impeachment process.

The support that he has now is skin-deep not deeply loyal.

 

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 2/10/17 at 5:39pm

My thinking is that they will use him to get through as much of their conservative agenda as possible in the least amount of time

Precisely.  He hasn't given them a reason to unload him yet.  They just snicker at his clumsy ineptitude and banking his mistakes for later.  But this non-Muslim non-immigration non-ban attempting to protect us from the Boogeyman and the murderous What-Ifs has been a debacle that's embarrassing the GOP.

[javero]

Posted: 2/11/17 at 10:10am

Trump never had a mandate and is obviously incapable of building a coalition with non-family members.

Summary of Trump's troubles follows:

* He's quickly losing the social conservative wing of the party thanks to his aborted Muslim ban, apathy towards the less fortunate, and family's graft

* He's pissed off the federal judicial priesthood

* The intelligence community loathes his National Security Adviser Mike Flynn.  See CIA freezes out top Flynn aide (POLITCO)

* There are at least 3 rival factions fighting for Trump's attention within the White House.  Prediction: two of them along with Congressional hawks who hate both Putin and Assad will eventually coalesce germinating the mother of all mutinies.  They will give Pence plausible deniability.

* Fiscal conservatives will bolt as soon as details emerge of his 8th Wonder of the World Wall and Star Wars Defense Shield 2.0.  See Making Our Military Strong Again (whitehouse.gov)

* He's initially surrounded himself with neophytes who haven't discovered the levers of power in DC

* Sean Spicer is famous-for-DC right now but the frat-boy-done-good act will grow stale quickly

Updated On: 2/11/17 at 10:10 AM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 2/12/17 at 11:09pm

 

Week 4, and he's turning on his staff. The Great Work begins.

 

POLITICO: Trump reviews top White House staff after tumultuous start: Michael Flynn is under fire, but he’s not the only one about whom Trump is voicing his doubts.

 

[PalJoey]

Posted: 2/13/17 at 11:37am

 

Rumors are flying that both Flynn and Priebus might be hearing "YOU'RE FIRED!" soon.

 

 

[PalJoey]

Posted: 2/13/17 at 11:17pm

 

NY TIMES: BREAKING NEWS

Michael Flynn is said to have resigned as President Trump's national security adviser, facing accusations about his dealings with Russia 11:07 PM

 

That's one down, the rest of the administration to go!

 

[PalJoey]

Posted: 2/13/17 at 11:34pm

 

Here's the thing: If Flynn made the call to the Russian ambassador in order to undermine a sitting president, that would constitute an act of high treason.  

But here's the bigger thing: If it can be proven that Flynn made that call at the request of President-elect Trump, then Trump is guilty of a high crime and misdemeanor, an impeachable offense.

 

[adamgreer]

Posted: 2/14/17 at 12:25am

This story seems like it's got legs. If they can connect this all to Trump, we may be saying "President Pence" sooner than we thought. 

[javero]

Posted: 2/14/17 at 7:09pm

At least someone was smart enough to give Pence, what...plausible deniability.

Pence did not learn that Flynn misled him on Russia until last week

By Abby Phillip, Ellen Nakashima and Jenna Johnson February 14 at 4:59 PM

Vice President Pence first learned that former national security adviser Michael Flynn had misled him about the nature of his contact with a Russian official on Feb. 9, a full two weeks after other White House officials were briefed on the matter, an aide to Pence said on Tuesday.

Complete WaPo article at: the deets...

[adamgreer]

Posted: 2/14/17 at 8:09pm

^Which seems like "all part of the plan" so he can eventually attempt to govern with some credibility.

[Luscious]

Posted: 2/14/17 at 9:39pm

The New York Times is reporting...

Trump Campaign Aides Had Repeated Contact With Russian Intelligence

This has the potential to be bigger than Watergate.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 2/14/17 at 10:04pm

Can we add "pissing off the intelligence community" to his list of errors? Because that seems like a group of people you want on your side. 

[Frumious Bandersnatch]

Posted: 2/15/17 at 4:21am

And monkey's brains, though popular in Cantonese cuisine, are not often to be found in Washington, D.C.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 2/15/17 at 8:32am

 

Can we add "pissing off the intelligence community" to his list of errors? Because that seems like a group of people you want on your side.
 

Yes! Astonishing that he thought that putting down the intelligence community and praising a Russian dictator would be a good career move.

It's like he never heard that the CIA had any power, like he never heard that they had the power to topple regimes and bug foreign diplomats, like he never heard the (false) rumors that the CIA killed JFK.

It's like he thought he was more powerful than the US government and Constitution.

Oh, well. It will be interesting to watch it all unravel. This is history happening in front of us: THE UNRAVELING OF A PRESIDENT.

 

[Blue_Lotus]

Posted: 2/15/17 at 10:00am

The unraveling of a President. Very well put. It's also the unraveling of an administration. The rest of the world is looking at us and shaking their collective heads and pronouncing: "Tsk. Tsk. Tsk"

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 2/16/17 at 12:26pm

The rest of the world is looking at us and shaking their collective heads and pronouncing: "Tsk. Tsk. Tsk"

Except in the UK.  They call it "tutting".

[South Florida]

Posted: 2/21/17 at 2:31pm

The fake news really like this McMaster pick, here's hoping this is as great a pick as they're claiming.

[javero]

Posted: 2/21/17 at 3:32pm

Shame McMaster isn't POTUS instead of Trump.  He's infinitely better prepared.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 2/22/17 at 10:59am

And now, anti-vaccination is becoming trendy again among stupid idiots: Trump energizes the anti-vaccine movement in Texas

Note to self: Do not kill unborn babies.  Wait until they are born and let smallpox and measles do the work.

Updated On: 2/22/17 at 10:59 AM

[Petralicious]

Posted: 2/22/17 at 11:05am

Fun video on Obamas take on Illegal Immigrants and punishing employers 

[ErikJ972]

Posted: 2/22/17 at 2:13pm

God I miss when we had a literate President. Someone who convey a policy position without referring to an entire group as rapists and murderers.

Updated On: 2/22/17 at 02:13 PM

[Petralicious]

Posted: 2/22/17 at 3:26pm

Doesn't change the fact that he said the same thing Trump says about illegal immigration . I noticed you ignore that part  which  I expected. but hey that was our St Obama and this is the devil Trump!

[PalJoey]

Posted: 2/22/17 at 3:32pm

 

Poor Kellyanne!

 

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/02/white-house-yanks-kellyanne-conway-from-tv-after-string-of-disastrous-appearances-report/