** **Yeah. That’s the fucking amazing part. How did he get it to work so spectacularly?
Because he has actual Presidential authority behind the words. He’s the commander-in-chief with broad and immediate authority over the military. That has real-world implications. The military can’t flat out ignore the commander-in-chief. That’s different than “building a wall” rhetoric which requires Congressional action (beyond shifting existing DHS money around for initial work).
Because God forbid some guy who wants to be a woman shouldn’t be accommodated and allowed to serve in a combat unit, or something. Seems totally legit.
Not “combat unit.” Any military service. I think the issue is that they’re already in the military. And my understanding is generally the military prefers a heads-up on such issues so they can formulate plans that minimize disruption of ongoing military operations. Sort of like DHS and the travel ban. Helps to talk to the people who are going to implement the idea before you publicize the idea because there are real-world implications even if the core intent is distraction.
Because he has actual Presidential authority behind the words. He’s the commander-in-chief with broad and immediate authority over the military. That has real-world implications.
Not even. The relevant military leaders are on public record as saying that they’re going to ignore that directive. (Granted it wasn’t an *official *directive.)
The issue isn’t his legitimate presidential authority, as much as that’s being flaunted. The issue is a matter of actual priority. Does it matter if transgenders are banned from the military? No, it does not. It’s actually the sane position. And it’s ENTIRELY within the president’s legitimate authority to determine that, and military personnel who resist are in the wrong.
But most of us are not in the military, and yet we all have an immediate interest in how sacrosanct our elections are.
Seems like a LOT of people need to be introduced with the concept of the rule of law. I’m still not convinced those people aren’t a greater threat to America than Trump.
Trump colluded with Russia to undermine American democracy" story broke about a month ago, to minimal fanfare.
It’s been slow-breaking for months. I just read a history of the Nixon version, and there are similarities (except we don’t know what the ending will be on this one).
Watergate developed really slowly. With a Nixon re-election in the middle. Years of events gradually accumulating.
Not even. The relevant military leaders are on public record as saying that they’re going to ignore
Not precisely. They said they can only respond to official White House communications, not a tweet. But you’d better believe the massive DoD bureaucracy has already scrambled the preparation of contingency plans in anticipation of an official directive which they cannot ignore.
Not precisely. They said they can only respond to official White House communications, not a tweet.
True. And you know, one of those minor downsides to a reality TV president.
But you’d better believe the massive DoD bureaucracy has already scrambled the preparation of contingency plans in anticipation of an official directive which they cannot ignore.
Also true, but not in the way you mean. They are already on record as publicly opposing the position of the Commander in Chief, which itself is nigh on unprecedented. To the degree they’re scrambling, they’re scrambling to thwart the (lawful) order, should it come down.
The grand jury news just broke, but the broader “Trump colluded with Russia to undermine American democracy” story broke about a month ago, to minimal fanfare.
You can only hold a firehose to your face for so long before you stop swallowing.
The fact that the President just signed into law a bill that he believed to be clearly unconstitutional didn’t even register a blip on the radar.
You can only hold a firehose to your face for so long before you stop swallowing.
The fact that the President just signed into law a bill that he believed to be clearly unconstitutional didn’t even register a blip on the radar.
I hear you on both counts.
And still, I’m shocked.
Yes, you can only be outraged by so many things at one time. And yes, Trump has given us plenty of things to be shocked about.
But at the end of the day, signing a bill he says is unconstitutional isn’t so much as shocking as par for the course. And things like banning transgenders from the military are marginal. (At worst.)
Colluding with a foreign power to influence our election is fundamental.
I’m hoping Trail is right, and that the slow burn and lack of fireworks is because the underlying charges will ultimately result in his ouster.
It’s the blind hatred of Trump that makes The Resistance is such a joke. They seem to think that there is one silver bullet out there who will get Trump. It’s a laugh.
Yes, it’s unfortunate that many who oppose Trump seem to be looking for that one incident, Tweet, misstep that will bring him down. It’s NOT going to happen that way.
However, if it does happen, it will be because of the collective buffoonery, patterns of behavior, and frequent incompetence that will bring about the true down-fall. That down-fall could be a routing at the polls in 2020. That may be the best outcome of all this. Anything else would be very messy, with Trump throwing everything at staying in power - he never knows when to quit, when to make that dignified exit.
As someone who is not familiar with the Grand Jury process that much help me out. I thought that generally speaking if you want to bring the president up on charges you basically need to impeach him. Can a grand jury recommend charges and then it goes to congress? Was there a grand jury in the whole Ken Starr Bill and Monica thing?
For the life of me, I cannot understand why this hasn’t been a bigger story. Like, YUGE.
People seem really interested in all those transgendered military folk, though.
As someone who is not familiar with the Grand Jury process that much help me out. I thought that generally speaking if you want to bring the president up on charges you basically need to impeach him. Can a grand jury recommend charges and then it goes to congress? Was there a grand jury in the whole Ken Starr Bill and Monica thing?
For the life of me, I cannot understand why this hasn’t been a bigger story. Like, YUGE.
People seem really interested in all those transgendered military folk, though.
From what I understand, Mueller is requesting that the grand jury issue subpoenas to compel people to testify under oath. Without it, he can only ask people to volunteer information.
…and it could be related to going after a lesser figure like Flynn. We don’t know much here. Regardless, probably best for dems if Trump stays in, remains unpopular and with a stifled congress, than more regular order with Pence at the helm.
edit to add that pubs did get a small win today:
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice announced Thursday he’s switching parties to join Republicans as President Donald Trump visited the increasingly conservative state.
Justice told about 9,000 Trump supporters at a rally in Huntington that he will be changing his registration Friday. He recently visited the White House twice with proposals on manufacturing and coal, neither he nor Trump are politicians and they both ran to get something done, he said.
“This man is a good man. He’s got a backbone. He’s got real ideas,†Justice said. “He cares about America. He cares about us in West Virginia.â€
As someone who is not familiar with the Grand Jury process that much help me out. I thought that generally speaking if you want to bring the president up on charges you basically need to impeach him. Can a grand jury recommend charges and then it goes to congress? Was there a grand jury in the whole Ken Starr Bill and Monica thing?
I’m not an expert here, but it’s I’ve read from several sources that the initial role of this particular grand jury is likely just to compel witnesses to testify under oath before the jury. Not necessarily (yet) to recommend criminal charges.
