Trump concerned about special prosecutor Mueller

HAL9000

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40385833

...as someone else has already pointed out, about the only people he hasn't had a pop at are the Russians.

TheBlueWolf

Utterly predictable from Trump...

Funkfingers

The Donald is like a small child and a control freak rolled into one. He sincerely believes himself to be blameless in all things. As far as he is concerned, in the role of POTUS, he is legislating for the greater good of America. He cannot comprehend why some U.S. citizens might not share his high opinion of himself. Stranger still, Trump cannot understand why a state visit to the U.K. might attract protests and dissent. The entire world is supposed to love The Donald.

The comparison that I usually draw for Trump is the late Robert Maxwell. (Another narcissistic control freak.) In their business empires, these men became accustomed to having absolute power. They dismiss dissenters at will. The more that they surround themselves with yes men (or women), the more detached from reality they become.



Ammunition, Mr. Depp?

Emp_Fab

Putin just gets his opponents found guilty of trumped-up (!) charges and banned from standing in next year's elections ! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-40385503

ICBM

Emp_Fab said:

Putin just gets his opponents found guilty of trumped-up (!) charges and banned from standing in next year's elections ! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-40385503

And that's the ones who get off lightly… it takes a very brave person to oppose Putin.

Emp_Fab

I oppose him. 

digitalscream

Emp_Fab said:

Putin just gets his opponents found guilty of trumped-up (!) charges and banned from standing in next year's elections ! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-40385503

In case it hasn't become clear...Putin's is the model that Trump believes government should operate under (ie a thin veil of democracy over what is essentially a dictatorship). He can't understand why the US doesn't work that way, and that's why almost all of his efforts are doomed to failure and humiliation.

ICBM

Emp_Fab said:

I oppose him. 

But you're saying that from the rather safe distance of Wales . I dare you to go to Moscow and say it .

digitalscream said:

In case it hasn't become clear...Putin's is the model that Trump believes government should operate under (ie a thin veil of democracy over what is essentially a dictatorship). He can't understand why the US doesn't work that way, and that's why almost all of his efforts are doomed to failure and humiliation.

The US constitution is so far proving quite robust, in fact - as the founders intended. It can be a problem when you have a good president who wants to get things done and can't, but that's the trade-off for being able to block a bad one who wants to get things done.

I agree with Evilmags that Obama's heavy reliance on Executive Orders to try and get things through was a bad precedent, but it looks as if Trump is even failing to make effective use of that.

digitalscream

ICBM said:

I agree with Evilmags that Obama's heavy reliance on Executive Orders to try and get things through was a bad precedent, but it looks as if Trump is even failing to make effective use of that.

The key difference between them is that Obama used Executive Orders to combat an opposition majority which was blocking him at every turn; Trump has that majority, ostensibly on his side, and he still can't get anything done. That's the mark of a failure.

Whether Obama was right or wrong to do that is entirely subject to your politics, but...he issued fewer Executive Orders per year of his administration than any of the previous 21 presidents (going back to 1889) - 34.6 per year, in fact. Trump, by comparison, is averaging 90 per year thus far, more than anyone since Truman (1953), and I doubt that number's going to come down any time soon.

ICBM

digitalscream said:

Whether Obama was right or wrong to do that is entirely subject to your politics, but...he issued fewer Executive Orders per year of his administration than any of the previous 21 presidents (going back to 1889) - 34.6 per year, in fact. Trump, by comparison, is averaging 90 per year thus far, more than anyone since Truman (1953), and I doubt that number's going to come down.

Interesting - I should have checked that . I was sure I'd read that Obama used them more than previous presidents. Obviously not.

digitalscream

ICBM said:

digitalscream said:

Whether Obama was right or wrong to do that is entirely subject to your politics, but...he issued fewer Executive Orders per year of his administration than any of the previous 21 presidents (going back to 1889) - 34.6 per year, in fact. Trump, by comparison, is averaging 90 per year thus far, more than anyone since Truman (1953), and I doubt that number's going to come down.

Interesting - I should have checked that . I was sure I'd read that Obama used them more than previous presidents. Obviously not.

Here you go:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_federal_executive_orders#Consolidated_list_by_President

There are plenty of articles out there about Obama over-using EOs, but from recollection they tended to be written by Republican-leaning authors and usually after he used one to push through something opposed to their ideology (eg the healthcare bill). He definitely used them to solve more of his high-profile problems than some presidents.

NickBotfield

One of the interesting things about the Russia investigation is how many of Trump's people are lawyering up.  Obviously Trump has got some lawyers that have no experience in the relevant field, but Mike Pence has got a lawyer who defended Republicans during both Watergate and Iran Contra, both of whom (IIRC) turned against the party to give evidence.  I wonder if Pence is thinking of rolling on Trump?

Freebird

I'd be concerned too if I were Trump.

Clinton, Lynch, Rice, Comey, Soros, and Wasserman Schultz are all under investigation and Mueller is a little bit too close to this lot. I wouldn't be surprised to see Obama himself getting a letter from Congress asking a few questions!

For some reason nearly all of the mainstream media are failing to report any of this. Something is definitely amiss, and it seems that the Democrats are trying to force Trump out of office using all possible means. I think this story still has a long way to run.

Here is Senior United States Senator and current chairman of the Judiciary Committee Sen. Grassley updating the Senate.

Freebird

I just found this, it looks like it's game on ..

"Three Republican House Oversight Committee members on Friday called for an investigation into former FBI Director James Comey and Special Counsel Robert Mueller for acting in a partisan manner and applying double standards when it came to the Obama and Trump administrations."

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/06/23/republican-lawmakers-call-for-investigation-into-james-comey-and-robert-mueller/amp/

Nitefly

So, just so I'm clear on this, these latest 3 want an inquiry into the man who is running an inquiry into the man Trump fired who was running an inquiry into Trump and the Russians - have I got it all?

Freebird

Nitefly said:

So, just so I'm clear on this, these latest 3 want an inquiry into the man who is running an inquiry into the man Trump fired who was running an inquiry into Trump and the Russians - have I got it all?

Basically everything the Democrats said, and what the mainstream media reported was a pack of lies, and Comey was the facilitator in the middle helping everything along.

Now it's the turn of Trump and his allies to have a go at trying to knock out their opponent.

It should be fun, and potentially way bigger than Watergate. The Clintons have form, and it looks as though all the top Democrats are implicated, along with George Soros, the mainstream media, and large groups of individuals from the various government agencies.

I don't think Johnny Depp was joking about what he said at Glastonbury ... it may be the only way out!

JezWynd

Trump leaves chaos and confusion in his wake. The Saudi's are feeling empowered after receiving his blessing (and buying his favour), He tweeted that his visit was 'already bearing fruit'. The strange and bitter variety.

Axe_meister

The US needs a full reset politically maybe a change in voting system facilitating more parties to join the frey.
Politics aside Trump is just the wrong man at the top.
Also socially America needs to take a good hard look at itself and what it's values are.
As much as there is wrong with the UK and Europe our corner of the earth seems to have gotten it right on the whole.

Evilmags

The US constitutional limits on power are working on Trump quite well I think. Mike Pence is a professional politician and I suspect he knows he has a fine line to tread. Soros is fairly shady too mind you. Repugnicans done want to cede control to Demonicrats after all and they have both houses and the biggest risk to their job is the Donald. Several republican caucuses hate him. (Mainstream Bush types and Libertarians are but two) 

He is what happens when emotions Trump rational thought.

Freebird

I'm pretty neutral when it comes to Trump, I don't particularly like him or dislike him. So I was wondering how others on here form their opinions about him. Is it via the filtered and somewhat biased mainstream media, or from direct observation and critical analysis of the the things he says and does?

JezWynd

I was wondering how others on here form their opinions about him

His campaign, his policies, his tweets, his speeches and video of the 'man' in action. What else do you need?