BBO Discussion Forums: Has U.S. Democracy Been Trumped? - BBO Discussion Forums

A prominent Kremlin-linked Russian politician has methodically cultivated ties with leaders of the National Rifle Association and documented efforts in real time over six years to leverage those connections and gain deeper access into American politics, NPR has learned.

Russian politician Alexander Torshin said his ties to the NRA provided him access to Donald Trump — and the opportunity to serve as a foreign election observer in the United States during the 2012 election.

NBC: Nobody at State, Treasury or Defense was told a tariff decision was being announced yesterday; no paperwork was ready; there was no plan for communicating with foreign countries, Congress or the public; people at the meeting hadn't been vetted.

I just hope next time Muller goes for one in his family he won't decide to nuke some random country just because he's pissed and looking for a fight.

President Trump’s decision Thursday to impose crippling tariffs on the imports of steel and aluminum took many by surprise — particularly investors, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the day’s trading down more than 400 points, or 1.7 percent, at 24,608.

But one billionaire investor and former Trump adviser, Carl Icahn, was seemingly unvexed, having dumped a million shares tied to the steel industry a week before the president announced 25 percent tariffs for foreign-made steel.

Ken, during past presidencies, were you not aghast at Bill Clinton's peccadilloes? Or disgusted by Nixon's illegalities? Or W's lack of "presence" etc.?
Is not Trump just another in a fairly long line of "objectionable" characters? Is not your system of government somewhat used to and protected from them? (The price being gridlock and inertia perhaps but necessary apparently.)
Here, in Canada, less is in play so we have smaller concerns.

Let me help you understand the similarities between Nixon and Trump. Nixon was a politician and a crook; Trump is not a politician.

Ken, during past presidencies, were you not aghast at Bill Clinton's peccadilloes? Or disgusted by Nixon's illegalities? Or W's lack of "presence" etc.?
Is not Trump just another in a fairly long line of "objectionable" characters? Is not your system of government somewhat used to and protected from them? (The price being gridlock and inertia perhaps but necessary apparently.)
Here, in Canada, less is in play so we have smaller concerns.

Already crystal clear. Your system has its pros and cons (do they ever go to prison?) so you have to roll with it. Our pols are mostly boring or ineffectual but that suits our national temperament... . Who was your last Prez that you admired and why?

Legendary Bass Fisherman President Trump Explains How Easily He'd Catch The Fish Monster From 'The Shape Of Water'

The country, and the world, is caught up in questions of identity so the question of just what makes us who we are has relevance. I am at the extreme opposite end of those who can, for example, trace their family back to the first American settlers. As mentioned, I am adopted. My adoptive father came to this country when he was 10, brought by his older brother who was 16, an adult at the time. He was always unsure of what country he came from. Ellis Island says Hungarian nationality, Croatian ethnicity. He thought he was Austrian or maybe Czech. I have never developed the need to "search for my roots", not in any substantive way, but naturally I am curious. I never completely understood what Sartre meant by "Existence precedes essence" but if it was meant to place importance on choices I agree with it.

As to your question to Winston about admiring presidents, I am not much into admiration.

I am shocked, shocked to find that insider trading may be occurring:

WaPo:

Report: Donald Trump didn’t help UCLA players get out of Chinese jail
Rob Dauster,NBC Sports Fri, Mar 2 2:33 PM CST

This is how crazy college basketball has been during the 2017-18 season: Did you remember that three UCLA players, including LaVar Ball’s middle son LiAngelo, were arrested in China for shoplifting and, according to the president himself, had to be rescued by Donald Trump during his trip to the country.

Well, they were.

And, as it turns out, LaVar Ball was right when he said that the president did nothing to help get Gelo out of jail. The way the story was told by the New York Times in November is that Trump, while meeting with Chinese president Xi Jinping, “intervened” to get the police in Hangzhou to let the players leave.

But that’s not really how it played out, according to a story from ESPN:

“The players were already checked into the hotel before the public discovered they were arrested,” a team source said. “They also were not under house arrest. It was our decision to keep them at the hotel until the situation was resolved. The charges were dropped, they weren’t reduced, and that happened two days before we heard from Gen. Kelly.”
Remember when Trump tweeted “I should have left them in jail”?

Interesting.

WASHINGTON — George Nader, a Lebanese-American businessman, has hovered on the fringes of international diplomacy for three decades. He was a back-channel negotiator with Syria during the Clinton administration, reinvented himself as an adviser to the de facto ruler of the United Arab Emirates, and last year was a frequent visitor to President Trump’s White House.

Mr. Nader is now a focus of the investigation by Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel. In recent weeks, Mr. Mueller’s investigators have questioned Mr. Nader and have pressed witnesses for information about any possible attempts by the Emiratis to buy political influence by directing money to support Mr. Trump during the presidential campaign, according to people with knowledge of the discussions.

The investigators have also asked about Mr. Nader’s role in White House policymaking, those people said, suggesting that the special counsel investigation has broadened beyond Russian election meddling to include Emirati influence on the Trump administration. The focus on Mr. Nader could also prompt an examination of how money from multiple countries has flowed through and influenced Washington during the Trump era.

In one example of Mr. Nader’s influential connections, which has not been previously reported, last fall he received a detailed report from a top Trump fund-raiser, Elliott Broidy, about a private meeting with the president in the Oval Office.

Mr. Broidy owns a private security company with hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts with the United Arab Emirates, and he extolled to Mr. Trump a paramilitary force that his company was developing for the country. He also lobbied the president to meet privately “in an informal setting” with the Emirates’ military commander and de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan; to back the U.A.E.’s hawkish policies in the region; and to fire Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson.

A copy of Mr. Broidy’s memorandum about the meeting was provided to The New York Times by someone critical of the Emirati influence in Washington.

Back maybe a year or so there was a thread with a title something like "How could I vote for such a disgusting man?". Being disgusting is of course a bad feature but it pales in comparison with items like you quote above. We have a president who does not seem to know on Tuesday what he will do on Wednesday, and sees no problem with that. On PBS last night Mark Shields reminded us that the Trump supporters tell us that we should not take the president literally when he says something. This is somehow supposed to reassure us.