Trump is actually LESS popular in Russia than in America….
The guy is bending over backwards to get tight with Russian President Putin, whose fellow country men/women don’t like even like him and think he’s dangerous…
A majority of Russians say they have a negative view of President Trump, according to a new poll from state pollster Russian Public Opinion Research Center.
The poll, conducted earlier this week, found that 71 percent of respondents had an unfavorable view of Trump, compared to 10 percent who had a favorable view. Nearly 20 percent of respondents said they had no opinion.
A large majority of respondents, 77 percent, said specifically that they view Trump as “self-centered,” and just 16 percent said they think the U.S. president is “trustworthy.”
A majority also described Trump as “dangerous.”….
Embracing for Trump actually…
I guess Putin ain’t telling people to like Trump, eh?
New Thread for 7/14/18 is HERE…
Happy Bastille Day !
(Joyeux Quatorzième à Tous!)
Morning All….
World Cup Final tied at 1 between Croatia and France so far…37 min in play
France just went up 2-1
Link for World Cup….
It’s from the BBC….
Without looking it up, any guesses on who George Will called “America’s most repulsive public figure?”
First who who answers correctly wins the coveted Zreebs Trivia Award.
DJT?
Good guess, but no.
I don’t know if he called him “ repulsive “ but I recall Will has been quite critical of VP Mike Pence.
Will has a history of criticizing Republican VPs.
Remember back in the eighties he referred to then VP George H Bush as a “lapdog.”
Jack wins!
Congrats Jack!
A most humbling experience.
As Zreebs said, it is a “coveted “ award.
It takes it place with my winning a thousand bucks playing Keno in Reno in 1992 and my prize mini trophy in a memorable victory in the seventh grade “twist” contest !
Here, HERE!
As the GOP increasingly comes to resemble a personality cult, is there any red line—video tapes? DNA evidence? a war with Germany—President Trump could cross and lose party support? “Very doubtful,” say a dozen GOP members of Congress stuck hard behind the MAGA eight ball….
More…
Uh I think that’s a point several of us have been making here for awhile.
Yes, but Esquire ’s article (as linked above) actually quotes some of those GOP politicians/officholders — a few even by name on the record — as saying how trapped they feel and how futile any objection seems.
G.O.P. = Gormless Obfuscator’s Posse (was formerly the Grand Old Party)
A hostile adoption by Trump, eh?
And for the laugh of the day…
“Public hearings are a circus…that’s why I don’t like like them.”
Trey “Bubba” Gowdy,retiring S.C. Congressman
Bubba of course was one of the Republican “clowns” who orchestrated the public lynching of FBI agent Peter Strzok ,who was hailed before a congressional Committee because he made some critical remarks about Donald Trump which the “clowns” ,in best conspiracist fashion and with no evidence whatsoever ,implied was involved in a “conspiracy” to “get” dear leader Trump.
Even the Wall Street Journal, not exactly a purveyor of the views of the “deep state” has written that such claims lack any validity.
Strzok apparently didn’t like Trump and said so.Lost his position in Muellers investigation due to his verbal indiscretion.Okay but why the need for a Congessional inquiry?
And his extracurricular actions ….
For me?
Stzok IS A class act
The chairman of the powerful House Oversight and Government Reform Committee said Sunday he doesn’t support a push by conservative lawmakers to impeach Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
“No. For what? Impeach him for what? No,” Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”…
More…
(This is the end of THAT idea…Didn’t think it had any merit )
Chairman Gowdy also pointed out that since Jeff Sessions and Rod Rosenstein are presidential appointees, President Trump can fire them at will without the process of impeachment.
Morning…..
The world’s media and a WHOLE LOT of others (NOT MOST of us) are gonna hold their breath as an American President sits down with the Russian President in a closed room with just a translator….
Lord only knows WTF is Trump is gonna give up to his idol…..
Yup….
But Trump HAS BEEN WARNED by just about EVERYBODY that to firing the two would probably move the ground from underneath him…..
Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, insult any friend, support any foe to assure the démise and the failure of liberty.
[ Cf, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=8032 ]
On a personal level the people’s of other nations KNOW Donald Trump does NOT represent the majority of Americans….
The leaders of countries listen to Trump
Then hear his staff trying to reassure them that as crazy as their boss is?
They will try to keep things done with some sort of normality ….
Everyone just has to wait….
Most times actually it seems ?
Trump basic view IS the same as other GOPer’s have expressed
Trade
NATO
Even talking to Putin
It’s just the guy tries to go ‘gangster’
I’m watching the Trump/Putin presser….
It’s ALL Trump alibing Putin….
Putin has to be smiling standing next to a guy who seems intent on disregarding any Russian mischief…..
Obama got this right…..
Putin has been locked out of the world due to mischief….
Trump is trying put Russia back….
This is Not a surprise for those who know about Trump’s ‘awaking’ in 1987……
I’ll have a post on this later….
But you are watching an American President say ‘Fuck-U’ to his own countries intelligence community that has tried to point out things that make him wary about getting rolled….AGAIN…like the North Koreans did…
The story is going to be the last question…..
Putin is asked directly …..
‘Doe Russian have compromising things on Trump?’
Putin chucked….
‘Says he didn’t know Trump was in the country….
There was hundreds in St Petersburg
Disregard this….’
Brexit: UK Government scrapes through Customs Bill votes
BBC 9 minutes ago
The government has narrowly avoided a defeat on its Customs Bill after agreeing to Brexiteers’ demands to change its wording.
It twice survived by just three votes after a backlash from pro-EU Tories who accused Theresa May of “caving in” to the party’s Eurosceptic MPs.
Defence Minister Guto Bebb resigned so he could vote against the government.
MPs will carry on debating Brexit on Tuesday when the Trade Bill comes to the Commons.
It gives the government the power to build new trade relationships around the world after the UK leaves the EU, and MPs who support staying in the EU’s customs union are seeking to change its wording.
Critics said the amendments to the Customs Bill laid down by Eurosceptics on Monday would undermine the UK’s recently-announced negotiating position.
But Downing Street, which agreed earlier to accept the four amendments, said they were “consistent” with the White Paper where it sets out how it wants to trade with the EU in years to come.
The UK is due to leave the EU on 29 March 2019 but has yet to agree how its final relationship with the bloc will work.
The government, which does not have a Commons majority, has been under pressure from MPs on both sides of the Brexit debate.
This was underlined on Monday as it first accepted a series of demands from Brexiteers who are unhappy at the proposals in the White Paper, believing it keeps the UK too closely tied to the EU.
But this angered MPs from the party’s pro-EU wing who refused to back the new amendments, leading to heated exchanges in the House of Commons as the Customs Bill was debated.
Pro-EU MP Anna Soubry suggested backbench Eurosceptic Jacob Rees-Mogg was now “running Britain”.
“This government is in grave danger of not just losing the plot but losing a considerable amount of support from the people of this country unless we get Brexit right,” she said.
Another Remainer, former Attorney General Dominic Grieve, said the prime minister had, by accepting the amendments, put herself in “a position of considerable weakness”.
He added that the political system in the country was “being torn apart” by Brexit and a second referendum may be needed if MPs could not reach a consensus on the issue.
Mr Rees-Mogg said the amendments were “broadly in line” with government policy, which is why the government accepted them.
By 305 votes to 302 – with 14 Tories rebelling – MPs backed an amendment that prevents the UK from collecting taxes on behalf of the EU, unless the rest of the EU does the same for the UK.
Applying EU tariffs to products destined for the EU is part of Mrs May’s plan to avoid friction at UK borders after Brexit.
Another amendment, to ensure the UK is out of the EU’s VAT regime, was backed by 303 to 300, with a Tory rebellion of 11.
Three Labour MPs voted with the government.
The government won several other votes more comfortably, and the entire bill was then approved by the House of Commons by 318 to 285.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-44854597
Theresa May: Trump told me to sue the EU</b?
BBC News, 15 July 2018
Donald Trump told Theresa May she should sue the EU rather than negotiate over Brexit, she has told the BBC.
The US president said on Friday at a joint news conference he had given Mrs May a suggestion – but she had found it too "brutal".
Asked by the BBC's Andrew Marr what he had said, she replied: "He told me I should sue the EU – not go into negotiations." ….
Mrs May laughed off the president's legal action suggestion, but added: "Interestingly, what the president also said at that press conference was 'don't walk away'.
"Don't walk away from those negotiations because then you'll be stuck. So I want us to be able to sit down to negotiate the best deal for Britain."
Donald Trump declined to spell out what his advice to Mrs May had been, in an interview with US TV network CBS, but added: "Maybe she'll take it, it's something she could do if she wanted to.
"But it was strong advice. And I think it probably would have worked."
Ahead of his meeting with Mrs May, Mr Trump told the Sun newspaper her Brexit proposals would "probably kill" a trade deal with his country.
But hours later he said a US-UK trade deal would "absolutely be possible".
Analysis by BBC legal correspondent Clive Coleman
Frankly, it is difficult to see any grounds for the UK suing the EU.
Like any other member state, the UK can sue the EU in relation to any specific measure it has taken which breaches EU law.
Such action would be heard at the European Court of Justice, the ultimate arbiter of EU law.
An example would be if the UK was denied agricultural subsidies, or structural funds to which it was entitled under EU law.
The Conservative government of David Cameron successfully sued when the European Central Bank said it would only license financial institutions within the Eurozone as clearing houses for transactions in euros.
The UK and the EU have not reached a Brexit agreement yet, so there can be no action for breach of that agreement.
Parties to a negotiation are under what are known as “procedural duties” – for instance, to act in good faith.
But it is very difficult to bring an action, within a negotiation, on that basis. Some would say that even attempting to do so would seriously harm the negotiation.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-44838028
Morning people on the beginning of day 2 of Donald Trump’s worst day’s in office….
On the May suing another government entity ?
Prue Bull Shit Trump….
The guy is a businessman…
Ya don’t sue on stuff like this….
This is in the media because it IS embarrassing….
The Brexit thing is mess…..
Neither side is happy…..
It will be MUCH more complicated than the original voter thought it would be….
The EU is just waiting to see how things go….
And Putin and Trump are waiting to crow and pick at the pieces…
From my point of view?
This is a knock off Trumpism….
To split from the EU give the Brit’s next to nothing positive
And is gonna screw them for years to come….
American League 2 – 1 National League at end of the 4th inning of the All-Star Game.
All three runs were solo homers by (I think) Aaron Judge (AL), Trout (AL) and Contreras (NL).
The whole MLB and Fox programming seems designed to discourage a very casual watcher from coming back (I can’t remember how long it’s been since I tried to follow an All-Star Game in any detail) — especially that all-too-confident know-it-all announcer, aggravated by miking up Bryce Harper and Mike Kemp while they were playing in the outfield. (You might think they’d be giving play-by-play commentaries from the field, but the announcer wanted to talk about just about anything else.)
A new PRRI survey finds that Republicans and Democrats are about equally likely to say they are sure to vote this year, 59% vs. 56%.
For comparison, Republicans held a considerable edge in 2014. More than two-thirds (68%) of Republicans, compared to only about half (51%) of Democrats, said they were absolutely certain to vote four years ago.
Key takeaway: “The generation gap in reported voting intent is massive. Only 28% of young adults say they are absolutely certain they will vote in the 2018 election compared to 74% of seniors.”
In the generic ballot, Democrats lead Republicans by 11 points, 53% to 42%….
Politicalwire…
Alabama Rep. Martha Roby survived her Republican primary runoff Tuesday night, rebounding from her sharp criticism of President Donald Trump in 2016 that sparked several challenges this year.
With 47 percent of precincts reporting, Roby led with 67 percent of the vote to 33 percent for party-switching former Rep. Bobby Bright, when The Associated Press called the 2nd District race.
Bright, who served a term in Congress as a Democrat before losing to Roby in 2010, took heat for previously voting for Nancy Pelosi for speaker….
More…
AL 5- 3 over NL in the middle of the 9th in the All-Star Game.
Morning….
Politicalwire just went to a new theme…..
I see they will have some fixing to do…..
Been There….
Done THAT….
All-Star Game tied 5-5 at the end of the 9th. Extra innings coming up.
Bregman and Springer of the Astros lead off 10th with two solo home runs. AL now 7-5 ahead with none out and runners at 1st and 3rd.
AL 8-5 over NL at the middle of the 10th.
American League wins the All Star Game 8-6 after 10 innings.
Record number of solo home runs.
Anybody mention Rep Jordan recently?
Morning People….
…from NBC News….
Rep. Jim Jordan met with investigators on Monday as part of Ohio State University’s ongoing investigation into accusations that a wrestling team doctor sexually abused athletes more than 20 years ago….
When will Jordan hold a press conference to discuss these allegations? I hope the pompous fool didn’t lie to the investigators.
For a little humor…
Catch the clip at PoliticalWire of Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats learning that Trump has invited Putin to visit the White House.
Did anyone else see Neal Caputo – who I am pretty sure is a Republican – read the hate mail he received for criticizing Trump’s performance in Helsinki? Pretty shocking and troubling.
Morning All…..
Year Caputo is one of Fox’s talking heads…
I’m gonna lead off with a post about this…..
Michael Cohen’s recording of candidate Trump speaking to him about payments to Karen McDogall is in the hands of the FBI….
Giuliani now says Trump was in that conversation….
Trump emphatically lied in saying he had no knowlehde of such payments….
(Trump certainly didn’t know that his Lang man was tapping him)
Like Republicans give a shit if Trump lied.
Yep and that’s why all this hoopla over the tapes is meaningless to them.
I am waiting for my dentist and the receptionist just said about the tapes, “they all do it.”
This will only matter if it turns out there is a crime.
Agreed on the crime angle
BTW?
Both Houses have backed away from excluding China’s ZTE from doing ANY. Business in the USA..
Intel people call the company a conduit for the Chinese intel people….
Ah?
The crazy Russian shit ain’t going stopping….
The Russian’s actually seem to be ALL over Trump & Co.
Politico…
The fallout over the president’s visit with the Russian president is showing no signs of slowing down
I don’t have any data to back it up but while the % of evangelicals who continue to support Trump despite all his pussy grabbing and Stormy chasin I’ve heard the number of people who self describe as evangelicals has been dropping.
Sort of like how the number of voters who describe themselves as Republicans is dropping even as suppor of Trump among those who do remains very high.
I do NOT see how Trump survives the sheer weight of his fuckup’s and out of body comments….
Remember ….
His party lawmakers are a captive audience …
While they do bend for their guy…
If he becomes weak or goes completely off the grid?
One could assume they would drop him…..
I KNOW right now isn’t enough…
But the water HAS to be rising….
It is inherently dangerous to “ assume” anything about Republicans where Donald Trump is concerned.
You even published a poll that says close to 60% of them believe he is being “ framed” by these investigations.If that is true then anything that Mueller comes up with is going to be rejected by most of the grassroots party members and we have already seen how Republican officeholders are loath to take him on.
Further, despite a rather modest number of Republican Congresspeople criticizing his Helsinki shenanigans,there doesn’t appear to be any upwelling of opposition among his supporters.
I assume nothing where Trump is concerned among Republicans.
Indeed, it’s almost like he is playing some sick game with them whereby he engages in more and more outrageous behavior just to see how much they will take.
So far?Theyve taken every outrage he’s thrown at them and keep coming back for more.
Good Morning Everyone…..
Hope you all are having a great Summer!
FiveThirtyEight…..
….Several polls show a noticeable drop in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s approval ratings among Russians. The polls were from the Levada Center, an independent pollster; Public Opinion Foundation, the polling agency the Kremlin uses; and Kremlin-friendly pollsters including WCIOM….
Link….
Morning…..
Good Morning All….
Morning All….
Trump just finished a presser
ANYTHING to try break away from the Putin
give always ….
Pompeo has just outlined that Trump HAS promised to undo sanctions a other actions against Russia for actions carried out around the globe….
The Senate is talking checking Trump
I doubt the GOPer’s have the ‘balls’ to actually stop Trump from helping Putin
Get away with his campign to destabilize the West….
The Boston Globe
@BostonGlobe
Ivanka Trump’s clothing company is reportedly shutting down and all its employees are being laid
Matt Separa
@MattSepara
Matt Separa Retweeted Emily Stephenson
“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”
– George Orwell, 1984
“I’m very concerned that Russia will be fighting very hard to have an impact on the upcoming Election. Based on the fact that no President has been tougher on Russia than me, they will be pushing very hard for the Democrats. They definitely don’t want Trump!”
— President Trump, on Twitter.
I sort of like the way Trump treats his supporters with veiled contempt.
It’s Like he’s saying,”here dumbasses I’ll say this and you’ll play along.”
Actually of course, this brings up a whole other issue,
Why did the Russians favor a Republican for President when ,according to Republicans (preTrump) ,they were the hardline foreign policy party in contrast to the “soft” Democrats?
Because…..
They KNEW Clinton would be hard on them….
She had as Sec of State
And most important?
They had the goods on Trump ALREADY…..
And has been doing this to people for decades….
james, does it say whom all the former Ivanka employees are to be laid by?
Yup…..
They LOSE THEIR JOBS….
They may have preferred Trump because he was compromised personally or financially, but I do not believe they actually expected him to win, at least not early on.
They wanted to sow discord in America and weaken the eventual winner, whom they guessed would be Hillary.
NOBODY THOUGHT TRUMP WOUKD WIN…..
Putin may have disliked Hillary personally (as he would most high ranking Americans) but I really doubt he felt that the Obama Administration was too tough on them. Quite the opposite appears true, especially now in retrospect.
And it is also true that Hillary Clinton was not that influential as Secretary of State within the Obama Admin. As was the case with other Administrations, foreign policy was run out of the White House.
Personally, I think Hillary would have been better on foreign policy matters than Obama.
Under the Obama Admin
With Clinton as Sec of State…..
Sanctions where imposed on Russia
Russian spy’s where kicked out of the country
The US and Russia faced off in Syria
Obama said out loud that Russia was a third rate country with nukes
I see no way Putin would want Her leading America in place of an inexperienced real estate guy from NYC that they had something on and thought he could play on the national stage….
And added to that?
Yes
Hillary would have been better in foreign affairs somethning pain didn’t want
Nobody but SE
No james, the sanctions and the expulsions happened when John Kerry was Secretary of State, and Hillary had already lost to Trump, in part because Obama chose not to do more to stop the Russians.
Update…
Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp (R) completed his surprise comeback on Tuesday, claiming the Republican nomination for governor after winning late endorsements from President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.
Kemp, serving his second term as secretary of State, bested Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle (R) in a low-turnout runoff two months after Cagle finished first in the primary, the Associated Press reported….
More….
…
AP Politics
@AP_Politics
BREAKING: Carolyn Bourdeaux wins Democratic nomination for U.S. House in Georgia’s 7th congressional district. #APracecall at 10:40 p.m. EDT. #Election2018 #GAprimary
…
Laurence Arlidge
@LaurenceArlidge
RT @AP_Politics: BREAKING: Martha Roby wins Republican nomination for U.S. House in Alabama’s 2nd congressional district. #APracecall at 8:…
…
Laurence Arlidge
@LaurenceArlidge
RT @AP_Politics: BREAKING: Martha Roby wins Republican nomination for U.S. House in Alabama’s 2nd congressional district. #APracecall at 8:…
…
AP Politics
@AP Politics
BREAKING: Lucy McBath wins Democratic nomination for U.S. House in Georgia’s 6th congressional district. #APracecall at 11:05 p.m. EDT. #Election2018 #GAprimary
Morning All….
Notice that Trump noise IS turning things FROM Helsinki…..
The Michael Cohen story is embracing
But NOT illegal
But it does help Trump divert attention
The political media story is the coming Democratic wave….
That with a bit more than 3 months until midterm Election Day
The GOPer’s are antsy over the Trade War
No they don’t…..
It’s just more added to the brand and legal cases
And there ARE MORE tapes…..
According to a YouGov poll, 28% of Americans (including 58% of Republicans and 9% of Democrats) say they believe that Trump is being framed by the FBI and the Department of Justice. 53eig.ht/2Lk2lFD
FiveThirtyEight….
Today is July 20, 2017, exactly eighteen months after the Inauguration (what a warm, unifying experience that was!)
Only thirty exciting, fun-filled months, or two and a half years, until the next inauguration. Will the Republic survive that long?
Yea….
But in what shape?
I’m still of the view that Donald J. Trump will NOT be the President of this country on Jan.21st, 2021….
I hope I’m right for the planets sake…..
As for diverting attention from Helsinki, remember that the new Trump line (via his Tweet) is;
He is so much tougher on Russia than anyone else has ever been that Vladimir Putin now wants to help the Democrats
Those with inconveniently long memories (i.e. longer than two weeks) may recall that a nearly-unanimous bipartisan majority of both House of Congress implemented the latest round of sanctions against Russia against the wishes of, and over the head of, the tougher-than-everyone Trump administration.
Republicans don’t care how inconsistent or stupid they sound defending Trump’s ridicous 180s. Maybe massive defeats in November will get their attentiin.
I hope so Scott….
Morning All.
Morning People….
Yes….
I cited THAT here as one of rare times Congress HAS bucked Trump….
(1) This is the 101st (or maybe 102nd) comment on this open thread, James; might be a good time to start a new one.
(2) We’ve already survived and suffered through 89 weeks of the Trump presidency. Only 129 weeks and 5 days until the next Inauguration Day. Only 160 days (just under 23 weeks) left in this Congress. We”re also only 102 days (14 1/2 weeks) from Election Day 2018.
626 days, or 89 weeks & 3 day(s) since Election Day, 2016
553 days, or 79 weeks & 0 day(s) since Inauguration Day, 2017
TODAY
102 days, or 14 weeks & 4 day(s) until Election Day, 2018
160 days, or 22 weeks & 6 day(s) until the 116th Congress sits
830 days, or 118 weeks & 4 day(s) until Election Day, 2020
908 days, or 129 weeks & 5 day(s) until Inauguration Day, 2021
Coming Up DSD!….
New Thread for 7/27/18
Correction: the Trump administration is only 79 (not 89) weeks old.