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Quote:The questionnaire President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team sent to the Department of Energy arrived with little fanfare (neither Al Gore nor Kanye West were dispatched as couriers), but it was delivered with the expectation that word of its contents would filter down to employees at every level of the agency. Among other unusual inquiries, it included a request for the names of officials and contractors who helped the government forge a global deal to combat climate change and worked on related efforts to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.
On Tuesday, the Department responded to Trump with a bold-lettered refusal: “We will not be providing any individual names to the transition team.” The solace to dedicated civil servants will last for another 37 days. After that, it’s anyone’s guess how aggressively Trump’s administration will seek to dismiss or marginalize government employees and contractors who study and implement environmental policy.
Trump hasn’t limited his intimidation to government employees who present obstacles to untrammeled power, either. His targets have included not-particularly-sympathetic institutions like Boeing and highly vulnerable individuals, like Chuck Jones, the president of the local steelworkers union that represents employees of Carrier.
Menacing phone calls followed after Trump attacked Jones on Twitter. So far none of Trump’s named enemies has been hurt, but the risk of harm is plain, as anyone who’s followed the Comet Pizza saga knows.
The less tangible threat, though, is to the willingness of dissidents to criticize the Trump government, out of fear that Trump will harm their businesses, or that his unhinged supporters will harm their families. How many people will see what happened to Jones and others and decide raising objections isn’t worth it?
Over the course of the campaign, Trump singled out one federal judge and multiple political journalists for abuse. Some of those journalists (along with many others whom Trump never targeted directly) were subsequently inundated with bigoted, violence-drenched messages from Trump supporters, both online and, more ominously, at their home addresses.
Trump’s Witch Hunts Are Having a Huge Chilling Effect | New Republic
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01-16-2017, 02:46 AM
(This post was last modified: 01-16-2017, 03:29 AM by Admin.)
Arguments do not matter, if you not for him, you're against him and by definition you'r on the wrong side and fair game..
Quote:Reince Priebus blasted Office of Government Ethics Director Walter Shaub on "This Week" after he dubbed Trump's attempts to separate himself from his business interests this week "wholly inadequate." "The head of the government ethics ought to be careful, because that person is becoming extremely political," Priebus said. The incoming chief of staff incorrectly alleged that Shaub supported Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election — Republicans accused Shaub of partisanship for refusing to criticize Clinton's public speaking fees. Priebus also praised Rep. Jason Chaffetz for last week summoning Shaub to Capitol Hill to address his public criticism of Trump's actions. "I'm not so sure what this person at Government Ethics, what sort of standing he has anymore in giving these opinions. I think Jason Chaffetz was correct to call for an investigation into the Government Ethics Department in the government for the positions that they've taken in this campaign," Priebus said.
He 'ought to be careful': Trump chief of staff issues stern warning to government ethics watchdog - Business Insider
There were, of course, good reasons for that judgement ( here) and Priebus isn't the first..
Plan a car factory in Mexico, even if you are a German firm, and you're threatened with 35% tariffs..
Quote:In line with his threats against other automakers, Trump said Bayerische Motoren Werke AG would face a 35 percent import duty for foreign-built BMW cars sold in the U.S. BMW should scrap plans to open a new plant in Mexico and build the factory in the U.S. instead, he was quoted as saying. BMW plans to start building 3 Series sedans at San Luis Potosí in 2019.
Trump Slams NATO, Floats Russia Nuke Deal in European Interview - Bloomberg
CNN had the temerity to report on the existence of a dossier that claims the Russians have dirt on Donald. They simply reported on its existence, but they were slammed nevertheless as "fake news" organization. The existence of that dossier is real, and taken seriously enough even for top security chiefs to brief the President and incoming President on it, so what CNN reported was most definitely not fake news.
Note also what CNN didn't do: - The report itself, which was already circulating for months
- They went out of their way to argue that the content couldn't be verified (Imagine what Fox or Breitbart would have done if this report would have been on Clinton. They would have immediately published the report. Hell, they even publish reports that are basically made-up. Every detail would have been extracted, savored, rendered out of context for maximum damage in an endless feedback loop like Benghazi or Clinton's Foundation).
It's just some examples (we're spoiled for choice, basically, but this is how authoritarian regimes start..
Everyone that matters who merely points out some factual shortcomings in what Trump argues (like yes, all 17 intelligence agencies did point to Russia as the ones hacking the DNC server, something which Trump denied ad absurdum, or yes Donald, you were on tape being in favor of the Irak invasion, etc. etc.), or crosses him in any way will be steamrolled, vilified as an enemy, a loser. Forget facts, they don't matter anymore.
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08-17-2017, 01:10 PM
(This post was last modified: 08-17-2017, 01:10 PM by Admin.)
Quote:"Great to see that Dr. Kelli Ward is running against Flake Jeff Flake, who is WEAK on borders, crime and a non-factor in Senate. He's toxic!" Trump tweeted, taking a shot at the junior Arizona senator. Flake is up for reelection in 2018 and is considered one of the more vulnerable GOP senators in the next election cycle. He recently released a book, "Conscience of a Conservative," that is critical of Trump.
An excerpt of the book in Politico described an executive branch "in chaos" and a president who has "seeming affection for strongmen and authoritarians." One of Trump's top benefactors, Robert Mercer, reportedly donated $300,000 to a super PAC charged with defeating Flake in 2018. A recent poll found that Flake's popularity in Arizona took a big hit after he voted for the senate healthcare plan that was subsequently defeated.
The president also lashed out at Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, another frequent critic of his. "Publicity seeking Lindsey Graham falsely stated that I said there is moral equivalency between the KKK, neo-Nazis & white supremacists and people like Ms. Heyer," Trump tweeted Thursday morning, referencing Heather Heyer, who died in Charlottesville on Saturday. "Such a disgusting lie. He just can't forget his election trouncing. The people of South Carolina will remember!" Trump tweeted, referring to Graham.
Trump attacks Republican senators - Business Insider
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Petty and vindictive in equal measure..
Quote:Donald Trump was in a bad mood before he emerged for a confrontational speech in Arizona last week. TV and social media coverage showed that the site of his campaign rally, the Phoenix Convention Center, was less than full. Backstage, waiting in a room with a television monitor, Trump was displeased, one person familiar with the incident said: TV optics and crowd sizes are extremely important to the president.
As his surrogates warmed up the audience, the expanse of shiny concrete eventually filled in with cheering Trump fans. But it was too late for a longtime Trump aide, George Gigicos, the former White House director of advance who had organized the event as a contractor to the Republican National Committee. Trump later had his top security aide, Keith Schiller, inform Gigicos that he’d never manage a Trump rally again, according to three people familiar with the matter.
Trump Punishes Longtime Aide After Angry Phoenix Speech, Sources Say - Bloomberg
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Quote:President Trump once yelled at Chief of Staff John Kelly so viciously that, per the New York Times, Kelly told staff that “he had never been spoken to like that during 35 years of serving his country.” Trump once screamed at Attorney General Jeff Sessions so viciously that Sessions, per the Times, described it as “the most humiliating experience in decades of public life.” The president also once called up National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster for the express purpose of — you guessed it — screaming at him.
There is a clear pattern of Trump, through his own personal viciousness and carelessness, abusing and alienating his top deputies, publicly as well as privately. This obviously creates an extremely difficult if not downright hostile work environment in the White House.
This context is necessary to make sense of Wednesday’s big news: NBC News’s report that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called the president a “moron” after a July 20 meeting. In the months prior to the comment, Trump had repeatedly contradicted Tillerson and publicly undercut him.
In early April, for example, Tillerson said that the Trump administration would be fine with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad staying in power. Just days later, Trump ordered the US to bomb Assad for the first time, and Tillerson was forced to publicly reverse himself. On June 9, Tillerson called on Saudi Arabia and its allies to end their political isolation of Qatar; less than two hours later, Trump sided with the Saudis by labeling Qatar “a funder of terrorism at a very high level.”
The “moron” comment thus appears to be a backlash to the lack of policy direction and public reprimands by the president, at least in part. “It's not like Cabinet officials are just walking around calling the president a moron,” as Musgrave puts it. There are a number of examples of top-level officials being mistreated on topof Tillerson, Kelly, Sessions, and McMasterr
“Toxic on a day-to-day level”: how Trump is mismanaging the White House - Vox
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Quote:President Trump was reportedly "furious" this week after NBC News reported that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had considered resigning earlier this year and had once called the president a "moron," the network said Thursday. NBC News, citing multiple senior administration officials, reported that Trump "fumed" inside the White House to his chief of staff John Kelly and others for two hours after the initial report was published.
Trump and members of the administration have publicly denied any tension between the two.
NBC: Trump 'furious' after report on Tillerson | TheHill
No tensions, huh?
Quote:In a press conference on Wednesday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that he and President Trump are "one team with one with mission." But the two have rarely seen eye to eye, and in many cases their disagreements have become public through leaked private conversations, contradictory talking points, and unfiltered tweets by the president himself. In many cases, this has led to deep divisions between Trump and Tillerson on major domestic and international policy issues and prevented them from presenting a unified front in diplomatic circles. Here are eight of the biggest and most important issues that they diverge on:
Here are 8 issues on which Trump and Tillerson totally disagree - Business Insider
Read that article, these divisions are no small fry, from the approach to North Korea ("Tillerson is wasting his time") to the Iran nuclear deal to Qatar, there are numerous fields where Trump has embarrassed Tillerson by stating something diametrically opposed to his position.
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Bullying again..
Quote:President Donald Trump is blasting the Justice Department for not investigating 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. When asked, Trump was unsure whether he would fire Attorney General Jeff Sessions if Sessions did not begin investigating Clinton. It's not the first time Trump has expressed dissatisfaction with Sessions' Justice Department.
Jeff Sessions may be back in Trump's doghouse - Business Insider
Can a US President direct the Justice Dept. what kind of investigations to open? We don't think so..
Apart from that, there is nothing in that Uranium scandal, it's another Benghazi
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Could just as well be filed under 'institutional decay' as Trump and his cronies are relentlessly attacking all institutions that underpin rule liberal democracy, the judiciary, the free press, the FBI, etc. etc.
He hasn't even apologized himself for his misleading crowd size statements at his inauguration..
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Quote:President Trump reportedly told then-acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe that he should ask his wife, who had lost a bid for political office in Virginia, how it felt to be a loser, NBC News reported Monday. Trump made the remarks in a phone call to McCabe the day he fired FBI Director James Comey that was placed to demand why Comey was allowed to fly on a FBI plane from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., after being fired. McCabe told Trump that he hadn’t been asked about the flight but that he would have authorized it if he had.
Trump told McCabe to ask his wife how it felt to be a loser: report | TheHill
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Quote:The White House fired a top State Department official after he contradicted the White House's account of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's ouster on Tuesday. Steve Goldstein, the department's under secretary for public diplomacy and public affairs, confirmed on Tuesday that Tillerson found out about his own firing from Trump's tweet announcing it, and that Tillerson was "unaware of the reason" for his dismissal, which he had not discussed with Trump. "The Secretary had every intention of staying because of the critical progress made in national security," Goldstein said. "The secretary did not speak to the president and is unaware of the reason, but he is grateful for the opportunity to serve, and still believes strongly that public service is a noble calling."
Trump fired State Department official who talked about Tillerson firing - Business Insider
One strike and you're out..
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