Politician, forum moderator. Same thing.
Pretty close, yes. The difference is in degree.
The Trump Card...
- Thread starter muttly
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Pretty close, yes. The difference is in degree.
Thing is Comey deserved to be fired and should have been when he first crossed the line...I think the timing is appropriate as well...Trump waited until he had his people in place, THEY made the report which indicated termination...Trump just the did the dirty work...the buck stops with him... If Trump had his way he would have fired him on Inauguration Day!! Kudos to Trump for doing it the proper way thru the chain of command...
After Comey's dismissal, much of the news includes reports about how people feel, what they are thinking, what they wanted or want now, what the motives may have been or may be, what they think may happen next, opinions about what the media should or should not be talking about, etc. All of this is internal to whoever is being quoted or talked about at the time.
Most of it can be dismissed as unhelpful. The facts are more simple and straightforward:
Most of it can be dismissed as unhelpful. The facts are more simple and straightforward:
- Trump fired Comey.
- At least three investigations continue.
- As they progress, we see a new development. A subpoena has been issued (Flynn).
- Additionally, requests for information have been made of former Trump campaign associates (Manafort, Flynn, Stone and Page) and the Treasury department. The associates have been asked for emails regarding Russia. The Treasury department has been asked for any information that department's financial crimes division may have relating to Trump, his senior officials and his campaign staffers.
- Trump and his staff continue to keep the issue front and center by talking about it, or taking action relative to it, again and again and again and again.
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IMO...nothing factual......the country will spend 100's of millions of dollars waste 1,000's of hours of peoples time for something will again IMO something that will be eventually swept under the rug...
The simple act of just endorsing a Foreign election candidate like Obama/Trump did could be construed as interference...trying to swing the results..IMO we should say NO preference,,,more like "We will work with who ever wins the election"
The simple act of just endorsing a Foreign election candidate like Obama/Trump did could be construed as interference...trying to swing the results..IMO we should say NO preference,,,more like "We will work with who ever wins the election"
Some in this thread have suggested that the Russia collusion investigations will be swept under the rug. I don't think so, even if the White House wanted to make that happen.
Too many people and entities are digging, digging, digging from various angles. One commentator mentioned last night that the more activity there is around this, the more the "leak tree" gets shaken and the more leaks come. Now we read about the "Trump Tapes" in this story.
If there is nothing there, there is nothing there. But if there is actually something to the suspicions many people have, there are too many potential sources of evidence and too much leak energy and discovery energy pulsing around to keep things bottled up.
Too many people and entities are digging, digging, digging from various angles. One commentator mentioned last night that the more activity there is around this, the more the "leak tree" gets shaken and the more leaks come. Now we read about the "Trump Tapes" in this story.
If there is nothing there, there is nothing there. But if there is actually something to the suspicions many people have, there are too many potential sources of evidence and too much leak energy and discovery energy pulsing around to keep things bottled up.
Same was said about years of birther talk that the lead theorist finally recanted. It appears the shoe is now on the other foot.
Yeah, the 'Putiners' have the fake news media on their side looking down every rabbit hole.
As I read and watched last night's news, I kept thinking about how much of it would not be talked about at all but for the self-inflicted wounds created by the gang that can't shoot straight.
It is utterly astounding how things were handled before, during and after the Comey dismissal when they could have been handled differently to produce a far better result.
The president has the right to dismiss the FBI director for any reason or for no reason. The dismissal is not a constitutional crisis as some have suggested. Nor is it Watergate. But when the deed was done, the White House messaging about it was anything but a coordinated effort planned in advance. Staff was caught flat-footed. The Vice President and others responded as best they could, only to be contradicted later by the chief, who also contradicted himself; and even opened himself up to obstruction of justice charges with the words he thought must be said.
Instead of letting things play out as they did, why couldn't these supposedly high-level political players produce a coordinated message instead? Why could it not have played out this way instead?
1. Chief decides to fire the FBI director.
2. Chief notifies staff of the decision
3. Key staff members and spokespeople huddle to draft the announcement and internally distribute the talking points.
4. Thought is given to the anticipated reaction from the media, Democrats and others, and additional thought is given to how the administration will manage its response.
5. A presidential event is planned to shift news coverage to something else; something like a meeting with senators about health care, or a trip to a factory to highlight job growth, or a Pentagon meeting to discuss Korea, or a trip to the border to highlight improvements in the illegal immigration rate, or a golf game and lunch with congressional tax committee leaders to discuss tax reform, or just about any such thing that would make Comey's dismissal yesterday's news and move the spotlight off the Russia collusion investigations.
6. With everyone on the same page, including the president, the director is fired and the action plan developed above is followed.
What I see instead is an administration-wide first instinct to race individually into interviews before huddling together to develop and follow an action plan. Yesterday's news cycle had the administration totally on the defensive as its key players contradicted each other and shot from the hip, each in their own way.
Why couldn't these supposedly high-level political players produce a coordinated message? It's because they work for a super-narcissist who sees, thinks and acts like super-narcissists do. The key players in the administration actually are high-level operatives, but they can't shoot straight because their chief continually moves the target, leaving them in a fire-aim-ready mode.
The targets are not moved to achieve rational political ends. They are moved to serve the chief's bottomless need for public acceptance and adoration. Yesterday's tumult was not about the democratic or mainstream media response, all of which can be anticipated and prepared for in a dismissal case like this. It's about the self-serving perceptions and impetuous deeds of the narcissist in chief.
It is utterly astounding how things were handled before, during and after the Comey dismissal when they could have been handled differently to produce a far better result.
The president has the right to dismiss the FBI director for any reason or for no reason. The dismissal is not a constitutional crisis as some have suggested. Nor is it Watergate. But when the deed was done, the White House messaging about it was anything but a coordinated effort planned in advance. Staff was caught flat-footed. The Vice President and others responded as best they could, only to be contradicted later by the chief, who also contradicted himself; and even opened himself up to obstruction of justice charges with the words he thought must be said.
Instead of letting things play out as they did, why couldn't these supposedly high-level political players produce a coordinated message instead? Why could it not have played out this way instead?
1. Chief decides to fire the FBI director.
2. Chief notifies staff of the decision
3. Key staff members and spokespeople huddle to draft the announcement and internally distribute the talking points.
4. Thought is given to the anticipated reaction from the media, Democrats and others, and additional thought is given to how the administration will manage its response.
5. A presidential event is planned to shift news coverage to something else; something like a meeting with senators about health care, or a trip to a factory to highlight job growth, or a Pentagon meeting to discuss Korea, or a trip to the border to highlight improvements in the illegal immigration rate, or a golf game and lunch with congressional tax committee leaders to discuss tax reform, or just about any such thing that would make Comey's dismissal yesterday's news and move the spotlight off the Russia collusion investigations.
6. With everyone on the same page, including the president, the director is fired and the action plan developed above is followed.
What I see instead is an administration-wide first instinct to race individually into interviews before huddling together to develop and follow an action plan. Yesterday's news cycle had the administration totally on the defensive as its key players contradicted each other and shot from the hip, each in their own way.
Why couldn't these supposedly high-level political players produce a coordinated message? It's because they work for a super-narcissist who sees, thinks and acts like super-narcissists do. The key players in the administration actually are high-level operatives, but they can't shoot straight because their chief continually moves the target, leaving them in a fire-aim-ready mode.
The targets are not moved to achieve rational political ends. They are moved to serve the chief's bottomless need for public acceptance and adoration. Yesterday's tumult was not about the democratic or mainstream media response, all of which can be anticipated and prepared for in a dismissal case like this. It's about the self-serving perceptions and impetuous deeds of the narcissist in chief.
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Once again, I'm finding myself thinking too much about politics and spending too much time in this forum. Time spent here can be more profitably spent on Diane's and my business as we proceed toward our five-gym goal. In the interests of self-discipline and building the business, I'm going to pause my forum participation until August 1.
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That's going to really put a damper on our Narcissist Drinking Game.
Filming something for tomorrow night's SNL.
Spicy riding the White House briefing room podium on a busy Midtown Manhattan street, surrounded by moving cars, yelling at folks to get out of the way as (s)he motored through. (short Twitter video clip of it)
Spicy riding the White House briefing room podium on a busy Midtown Manhattan street, surrounded by moving cars, yelling at folks to get out of the way as (s)he motored through. (short Twitter video clip of it)
I know I said earlier this morning that I'm away from the forum until August 1. But just a few hours later, Trump so validated my post above that I'm compelled to point it out.
Trump's morning's string of Trump-destructive tweets were not forced by the media or prompted by the democrats. These tweets are not Hillary's fault or doing. This is all on Trump.
There was no reason whatsoever to tweet these out apart from Trump's irresistible urge to nurse his ego. By sending them out on a Friday morning, he once again surprises his staff and now virtually guarantees that the news focus will remain on the ham-handed manner in which Comey was fired, the lack of coordination in the administration and the Russia thing.
When he calls for accuracy, he seems to forget that his interview is on tape and seen by millions, and the letter he wrote to explain his Comey action is also documented in the public domain. The tape and letter contradict each other and both were done by Trump himself. In this case, he's right to criticize inaccuracy but wrong to lay responsibility for it beyond himself.
Trump's narcissism is in overdrive, much to his own detriment.
Comey is a cooler cucumber. As a lifelong lawman and skilled government bureaucrat, he will likely have a diary like most top-level leaders do. He likely expected his conversations with Trump to be taped and he would have been very careful in choosing his words. Comey has already refuted Trump's claim that Trump Tower was wiretapped. He is unlikely to stay quiet about the public remarks about Comey Trump is making now. Because Trump has brought things into the public domain, Comey is free to respond to those things. He has the option of issuing a statement or calling a press conference at any time, or to wait until he is called upon to testify in the hearings that are certain to come.
Trump should know this but he's acting like he does not. It makes no sense, unless you subscribe to the narcissism-in-overdrive theory as I do. Because Trump is all about Trump, and in his view everything is about Trump, look for him to continue to tweet foolishly like he did this morning and act recklessly as he has done in recent days.
Trump's morning's string of Trump-destructive tweets were not forced by the media or prompted by the democrats. These tweets are not Hillary's fault or doing. This is all on Trump.
There was no reason whatsoever to tweet these out apart from Trump's irresistible urge to nurse his ego. By sending them out on a Friday morning, he once again surprises his staff and now virtually guarantees that the news focus will remain on the ham-handed manner in which Comey was fired, the lack of coordination in the administration and the Russia thing.
When he calls for accuracy, he seems to forget that his interview is on tape and seen by millions, and the letter he wrote to explain his Comey action is also documented in the public domain. The tape and letter contradict each other and both were done by Trump himself. In this case, he's right to criticize inaccuracy but wrong to lay responsibility for it beyond himself.
Trump's narcissism is in overdrive, much to his own detriment.
Comey is a cooler cucumber. As a lifelong lawman and skilled government bureaucrat, he will likely have a diary like most top-level leaders do. He likely expected his conversations with Trump to be taped and he would have been very careful in choosing his words. Comey has already refuted Trump's claim that Trump Tower was wiretapped. He is unlikely to stay quiet about the public remarks about Comey Trump is making now. Because Trump has brought things into the public domain, Comey is free to respond to those things. He has the option of issuing a statement or calling a press conference at any time, or to wait until he is called upon to testify in the hearings that are certain to come.
Trump should know this but he's acting like he does not. It makes no sense, unless you subscribe to the narcissism-in-overdrive theory as I do. Because Trump is all about Trump, and in his view everything is about Trump, look for him to continue to tweet foolishly like he did this morning and act recklessly as he has done in recent days.
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Tweet from this morning:
"James Comey better hope that there are no "tapes" of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!"
Broadcasting a threat? Really? What kinda banana republic are we living in?
Ok ... it's time it was said ....
F-BOMB YOU TRUMP!
"James Comey better hope that there are no "tapes" of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!"
Broadcasting a threat? Really? What kinda banana republic are we living in?
Ok ... it's time it was said ....
F-BOMB YOU TRUMP!
I do. Diane and I enjoyed the company of expediters when we are on the road and still do. Nevertheless, duty calls and, these days, my duty is to the gym members we serve, the staff on board and the vision we have.
You know that Trump will do something or say/tweet something else in the near future that will elicit a response.
I do. Diane and I enjoyed the company of expediters when we are on the road and still do. Nevertheless, duty calls and, these days, my duty is to the gym members we serve, the staff on board and the vision we have.