What does a TRUMP presidency look like?

[FunkMonk]

God Damn I love my unpredictable, irrational, impulsive government.

[FunkMonk]

Maybe Congress, in light of the Trump disaster, will attempt to increase its power at the expense of the Executive?

[CountDeMoney]

Prepare your butts for FBI Director Rudy G.

Who says he appoints anybody at all?

Trump Announces 40-Month-Long Search To Fill FBI Director Post

[viper37]

I had to click on this to make sure it was a joke

[HVC]

I had to click on this to make sure it was a joke

We do live in interesting times

[Jacob]

Washington (CNN)There are two reasons why President Donald Trump fired James Comey, according to a source close to the now-former FBI director:

• Comey never provided the President with any assurance of personal loyalty.
• The fact that the FBI's investigation into possible Trump team collusion with Russia in the 2016 election was accelerating.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/10/politics/donald-trump-james-comey-russia/index.html

[CountDeMoney]

Interesting to see that the only media outlet allowed to cover Trump's meeting with Foreign Minister Lavrov and Ambassador Kislyak in the Oval Office was TASS.

[citizen k]

It's easy to ignore the treason when there's no evidence of it.

[Valmy]

I have to say I am a little surprised this Russian thing still has legs. I mean of course Putin tried to influence the election, he has been doing that everywhere. But I thought it unlikely there was a direct connection.

Oh well who knows? Certainly not the best optics there.

[Admiral Yi]

I have to say I am a little surprised this Russian thing still has legs. I mean of course Putin tried to influence the election, he has been doing that everywhere. But I thought it unlikely there was a direct connection.

Oh well who knows? Certainly not the best optics there.

How can it not have legs?  Mounds of circumstantial evidence, cabinet members who lied on the record, an ongoing FBI investigation, and a bullshit firing of the chief tormentor.

[Valmy]

I have to say I am a little surprised this Russian thing still has legs. I mean of course Putin tried to influence the election, he has been doing that everywhere. But I thought it unlikely there was a direct connection.

Oh well who knows? Certainly not the best optics there.

How can it not have legs?  Mounds of circumstantial evidence, cabinet members who lied on the record, an ongoing FBI investigation, and a bullshit firing of the chief tormentor.

That is the stuff that surprises me. Even for Trump I am amazed there is this much smoke. It is crazy.

[HVC]

I have to say I am a little surprised this Russian thing still has legs. I mean of course Putin tried to influence the election, he has been doing that everywhere. But I thought it unlikely there was a direct connection.

Oh well who knows? Certainly not the best optics there.

How is a compromised national security adviser not a bigger deal? As a one off it should be huge, but mixed in the the administration trend of Russian ties I don't know why this isn't a bigger thing.

[CountDeMoney]

I have to say I am a little surprised this Russian thing still has legs. I mean of course Putin tried to influence the election, he has been doing that everywhere. But I thought it unlikely there was a direct connection.

I don't see why you're surprised: Newsweek ran a three-issue series on Trump's Russian connections during the general election.  Trump's Russian connections have been reported since before the convention, before Manafort was even hired.  Pulling one thread leads to another, and shows just how deep Trump is with the Russians.

That's the fascinating thing about investigations versus conspiracies:  if you look and something is there, it will be found and oftentimes actually relatively easily.  If there isn't anything there, all the looking in the world isn't going to create it.   That's why we have a new Russian coming out our asses every day, yet 7 separate congressional investigations and millions of dollars spent on Benghazi always came to the same conclusion.


Shame the GOP sees Hilary Clinton as a bigger threat than Russians.  This is national security we're talking about here.   But hey, that's crazy hatred for you.

[Valmy]

Even for Trump's crew it just seemed too ridiculous to be true. But I guess nothing is.

[DGuller]

I have a limited view on things, obviously, but I can't see any consequential number of Republicans defecting Trump. Where do they have to defect to? Their electorate is now made of people who prefer Trump over a handful of other people, all at least slightly less insane. If there is a post-Trump GOP, it's a GOP led by somebody at least as insane and inane as Trump, not somebody less so.

I still keep dreaming that maybe Trump will make some people stop and think:  "What the fuck did this come to?"  It's obviously not a rational dream, the events of the last couple of decades make hardened cynicism the only rational outcome.

If it was unequivocal that Trump conspired with Putin to influence the election he would be impeached. It's not about the GOP behaving appropriately, it's that such a scandal would be so damaging a huge swathe of the congressional GOP would lose their jobs. It'd be a move to stop the bleeding as much as possible, this situation would be so bad for GOP the goal isn't even to salvage a win, it's to make the defeat less damaging. But they aren't going to do that until things are proven to a high degree.

And they will make it as difficult as possible to prove things to a high degree.