Posts: 29,292
Threads: 289
Joined: Jul 2013
Reputation:
0
11-10-2020, 01:14 AM
(This post was last modified: 11-10-2020, 01:23 AM by LP.)
Quote:The Trump campaign and many senior Republicans show no sign of conceding defeat any time soon, despite Biden's lead in several battleground states growing larger as the final votes are counted.
"Mark Esper has been terminated," Trump tweeted on Tuesday (AEST). "I would like to thank him for his service."
Trump named Christopher Miller, the director of the National Counter-terrorism Centre, as acting defence secretary.
Esper had pushed back earlier this year against Trump's calls to invoke the Insurrection Act, which would have allowed him to send National Guard troops into American cities against the wishes of state governors.
Hmm, life is truly stranger than fiction, and this would be funny if is was anybody but Trump, but it is not like this wasn't predicted.
Everybody knows why Trump is doing this, he is broke but at the moment no debtors can launch a case against him as he has presidential immunity, but if he loses the election then chooses to fight the debtors this time next year he's forked! His history, at least Ivana's history when Trump first burned his fortune, was to negotiate settlements privately while pronouncing defiance publicly. In much the same way Trump took on board the COVID science, cures and leading edge treatments privately, while denouncing science and COVID publicly. COVID cures and god health are only for the rich in Trump's world!
In other words he is a fraud!
Melania won't save him like Ivana did!
"Ruck, ruck, ruck, ruck ....... Ruck, ruck, ruck, ruck"
Posts: 3,970
Threads: 56
Joined: Jul 2013
Reputation:
0
Bravo Esper. It was looking pretty grim there for a while. IIRC, Esper was a lobbyist in the arms industry when he was appointed, so expectations were very low. But standing against Trump’s desire to unleash the military on Democratic States was brave and necessary. I think Esper’s epiphany was when Trump used General Milley and Esper as part of the gaggle who followed him to the church after Trump had unleashed the hounds on peaceful protesters. Milley also expressed regret over being involved.
Posts: 29,292
Threads: 289
Joined: Jul 2013
Reputation:
0
11-10-2020, 01:26 AM
(This post was last modified: 11-10-2020, 01:33 AM by LP.)
(11-10-2020, 01:22 AM)Mav date Wrote:Bravo Esper. It was looking pretty grim there for a while. IIRC, Esper was a lobbyist in the arms industry when he was appointed, so expectations were very low. But standing against Trump’s desire to unleash the military on Democratic States was brave and necessary. I think Esper’s epiphany was when Trump used General Milley and Esper as part of the gaggle who followed him to the church after Trump had unleashed the hounds on peaceful protesters. Milley also expressed regret over being involved. As I have heard it stated from former US officers, it's not going to happen even if the order is signed. The military would take into account the populist vote, and basically then be forced to ignore or arrest Trump for ironically inciting insurrection!
Trump is a narcissist, so he perceives insurrection as something people do to him, but the military and courts read it as something someone does to America, even if that someone is a President!
I've been quite reassured listening to various Colonel's and Generals, they warned though it could lead to localised disputes between National Guard and Army, but think they would be very isolated cases caused by hard line Republican right wing sympathisers. This group could spawn a new generation of home grown gorillas and domestic terrorists!
The problem for the American public in general is that the situation as model escalates very very quickly. Trump's hope is that he can still shut down the country using the National Guard, but it's unlikely even sympathetic Republican Senators will accept having machine guns in their office pointed at staff!
So it's very unlikely he'll get any real support for using the US Military on the US Public!
"Ruck, ruck, ruck, ruck ....... Ruck, ruck, ruck, ruck"
Posts: 3,970
Threads: 56
Joined: Jul 2013
Reputation:
0
So how many others will Trump axe in order to burnish his credentials as a tinpot dictator? The FBI director, Chis Wray, would be next. He’d love to sack Fauci, but he’s the Director of the National Institutes of Health which is not formally part of the administration. To engineer his sacking, he’d have to install a few henchmen in key positions who could then make it happen.
It’s just as well the States run the elections. Most of those in charge of the elections in the battleground states are Republicans, but they are State officials who were elected to those positions, so they are largely immune from Trump’s attacks. If they had been Trump appointees, Trump would have just sacked them and replaced them with Bill Barr types who would have happily changed the results.
Posts: 29,292
Threads: 289
Joined: Jul 2013
Reputation:
0
The US public are acutely aware of the "Better off dead than Red" threat, it won't be long before they build the association between Trump's behaviours and the ideology!
Trump's going to make himself enemy No.1 if he keeps up this line of attack! Perhaps it's only his narcissism that stops him seeing that, it sounds like those around him have identified the problem already, but perhaps he's threatened to take them down with him if they refuse to fall into line!
"Ruck, ruck, ruck, ruck ....... Ruck, ruck, ruck, ruck"
Posts: 3,970
Threads: 56
Joined: Jul 2013
Reputation:
0
Americans are only against socialism or communism. They don’t seem to mind authoritarians. Strongmen appeal to right wingers, which is strange given their alleged fondness for individual liberty.
Posts: 16,688
Threads: 248
Joined: Jul 2013
Reputation:
0
Perhaps we could run a sweep on when the POTUS will concede defeat.
I'm going for never : 
“Why don’t you knock it off with them negative waves? Why don’t you dig how beautiful it is out here? Why don’t you say something righteous and hopeful for a change?” Oddball
Posts: 3,970
Threads: 56
Joined: Jul 2013
Reputation:
0
I think that article I read is going to be prophetic. It really does seem that all roads lead back to Mitch McConnell.
If the Republicans had a clear majority in the Senate, McConnell would have been pushing his colleagues to call for a smooth transition of power. But he needs at least 1 of the 2 runoff elections to go to a Republican. He needs Trump to remain potent in order to drive turnout amongst Trump’s base. The last thing he wants is for Trump to go off to Maralago in a huff and refuse to hold rallies to support Purdue and Loeffler.
I imagine Trump’s attempts to steal the election will keep the QAnon movement alive. If he had accepted the loss (which of course would never have happened), QAnon conspiracists would have wandered around in a daze like the joggers who had been following Forrest Gump when Forrest told them to go home.
Posts: 29,292
Threads: 289
Joined: Jul 2013
Reputation:
0
(11-10-2020, 01:47 AM)Mav date Wrote:Americans are only against socialism or communism. They don’t seem to mind authoritarians. Strongmen appeal to right wingers, which is strange given their alleged fondness for individual liberty. Perhaps, while the guns are pointing outwards!
"Ruck, ruck, ruck, ruck ....... Ruck, ruck, ruck, ruck"
Posts: 29,292
Threads: 289
Joined: Jul 2013
Reputation:
0
The concept that the National Guard or Army will discriminate between Republican and Democrat is laughable, the nutters think the army is going to ask first and shot later!
Just wait until the first Trumpanutter revolts against being locked down by the National Guard, it'll be anarchy as caused by Trump.
The democrats only have to sit it out in their living rooms and wait, prolong the military lockdown, and the Trumpanutters will break out guns blazing after going bunker crazy!
"Ruck, ruck, ruck, ruck ....... Ruck, ruck, ruck, ruck"
|
