monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

Having seen him a few times on TV before he joined the White House, I was pretty surprised by his profanity ridden rant to the NYT reporter. He always came across as well spoken and even keeled. He also seemed, at least when I saw him, fairly moderate... to the extent that he disagreed with some of the wilder claims and suggestions of Trump Supporters who were appearing with him.

The stuff that is going on between him and Priebus and Bannon is a marked departure from the image he previously displayed. I hope it's an aberration that he will discard, because Trump certainly doesn't need a Communications Director who communicates in the same way he does.

I figured a shakeup in the White House was coming and thought it was needed, and, at first, I thought it was a great idea to bring in the Mooch, but it certainly seems like he might think he was brought in to replace Priebus as Chief of Staff. If he was, all fine and well, but Trump needs to make it happen clearly and quickly and not allow chaos to replace dysfunction.

It seems like he thinks it's good executive management to set his subordinates against one another in a managerial dog fight, on the theory that the one most suited to the task will prove victorious.

If that's the way he ran his business, it's amazing he had any success. It's stupid and self-defeating on numerous levels and not the least of which is that the winner is always going to harbor resentment that he or she was forced to go at a rival with fang and claw, particularly if that winner was an incumbent.

I really thought that as a successful business man Trump would nail this part of the job, but it's where most of his problems are coming from.

His inability to coherently and effectively manage the White House is causing me increasing irritation and frustration.

Whatever model he is applying, if any, is clearly not effective, and the dysfunctional environment of the White House is hamstringing his agenda. It pisses me off because I voted for him hoping he would get certain things done.

He's come through on several of those things which means he's capable of coming through on others,

but self-inflicted wounds are making that harder and less probable...and it's such an easy thing to fix! Or it should be for someone who has a brilliant master plan.

I also freely admit that I don't want him to go down in flames because I don't think I could stand the self-congratulatory gloating of the Resistance. I might have to become a Taoist monk and live out the rest of my life in a cave.

Veselnitskaya, through Baker Hostetler, hired Glenn Simpson of the firm Fusion GPS to conduct a smear campaign against me and Sergei Magnitsky in advance of congressional hearings on the Global Magnitsky Act. He contacted a number of major newspapers and other publications to spread false information that Sergei Magnitsky was not murdered, was not a whistle-blower, and was instead a criminal. They also spread false information that my presentations to lawmakers around the world were untrue.

The documents have circulated for months and acquired a kind of legendary status among journalists, lawmakers, and intelligence officials who have seen them. Mother Jones writer David Corn referred to the documents in a late October column.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM: This whole story reads like some kind of novel that nobody would buy, it’s got to be fiction, but unfortunately maybe it’s true. Let’s just break down sort of why you’re here. You believe that Fusion GPS should have registered under FARA, because they were acting on the behalf of the Russians?



WILLIAM BROWDER: That’s correct.



SEN. GRAHAM: So, I just want to absorb that for a moment. The group that did the dossier on President Trump hired this British spy, wound up getting it to the FBI. You believe they were working for the Russians

BROWDER: And in the spring and summer of 2016 they were receiving money indirectly from a senior Russian government official.



SEN. GRAHAM: Okay. So, these are the people that were trying to undermine Donald Trump by showing the nefarious ties to Russia. Is that what you’re saying?



BROWDER: Well, what I’m saying with 100% certainty is that they were working to undermine the Magnitsky act and the timing of that.



SEN. GRAHAM: But, the Fusion GPS products apparently as they hired a guy to look into Trump?

BROWDER: Yes.

“I am pleased to inform you that I have just named General/Secretary John F Kelly as White House Chief of Staff,” Trump said on Twitter. “He is a Great American and a Great Leader. John has also done a spectacular job at Homeland Security. He has been a true star of my Administration.”

True to form, Trump just tweeted that John Kelly was in, and Priebus was out as chief of staff. I bet dollars to doughnuts he didn't bother giving Priebus a heads up.

He put himself on the same level as Trump.

And he may be getting more press coverage than Trump.

That's not good for mooch's longevity.

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He put himself on the same level as Trump.

And he may be getting more press coverage than Trump.

That's not good for mooch's longevity.

I agree. And after tomorrow night, when a 'Mooch' SNL character is almost certainly going to be rolled out, his profile and fame are just going to grow. And The Don can't have anyone getting more famous than him.

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What had McCain done of which Trump became aware, that led to the vicious counter-punch.

I don't see this as a "vicious counter-punch," really. His point, while obviously intended to piss off McCain, had some semi-valid merit, I suppose. McCain himself has seemed to make the same point.

Well we'll just have to agree to disagree. Casting aspersions on any aspect of the service of a man who endured any time in the Hanoi Hilton is to me "vicious."

Most people prefer success to failure. If getting caught means failure and not getting caught implies success, then, obviously, not getting captured is preferable.

When Trump said he was "only a hero because he was captured," I think he was pointing that much of the narrative about McCain's heroics was centered around the fact that he was tortured by the VC.

Of course, Trump later rejected the MSN spin that Trump was saying that a captured serviceman could not be a "hero."

Too little, too late. You can't unsay what has be said, and especially not with John McCain.

1) He banned filthy Muslims from stepping onto our sacred soil
2) He's banned weirdo transgenders from serving in our sacred military
3) He's reduced the the number of filthy wetbacks crossing into our sacred nation by about 70%
4) He sent a bunch of our sacred cruise missiles to blow up a filthy Syrian airstrip