Post inauguration Trump:

[Tannin]

It’s certainly not his job to keep lying about it, Jezza.

Damn shame. Coz he's bloody good at it.

[pietillidie]

Another cringeworthy tirade from Captain Coronavirus. That's his leadership energy budget spent until the next supermarket aisle toddler tantrum, even as the nation awaits guidance.

How is it possible to have such a floundering, flailing, incompetent, petulant mental case in such a serious position and not be able to get rid of him? It must feel a nightmare they can't wake up from.

[Tannin]

Pietilidie, do you read history? I direct your attention to, for example, middle and late Imperial Rome, France under the Ancien Régime, and Byzantium anytime after about 700. All of these include examples of individuals as insane as Trump - well, close anyway - in charge of mighty nations.

In all three cases, these palpably insane individuals were determined to somehow make their empire great again, and all three empires were in fact experiencing chaos, dysfunction, and ever-growing civil conflict leading to their terminal decline and fall.

Always, we see a sequence of civil madness and decline, followed by an outburst of relative sanity under a new, generally sensible leader or two, followed by yet another buffoon even worse than the one we thought the worst-ever until then.

America is doomed. Trump is as much a symptom as a cause. America will recover somewhat under Biden, but the madness will eventually resume under some other nutter seemingly determined to out-Trump Trump. You can bet money on it.

[David]

Here's a reminder of how annoying the liberal press can be in covering Trump:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... p-about-it

So what exact crime is Trump accusing Obama of committing?

The president himself does not seem to know. “‘Obamagate’,” he ruminated in the White House rose garden on Monday. “It’s been going on for a long time. It’s been going on from before I even got elected. And it’s a disgrace that it happened.”

Asked by a Washington Post reporter for the second time to name Obama’s exact offence, Trump replied cryptically: “You know what the crime is. The crime is very obvious to everybody. All you have to do is read the newspapers, except yours.”

Clear as mud, then.

This supposed explainer explains nothing. But anyone who's been following these things will know that Trump has long accused Obama of authorising spying on him during the 2016 election campaign (and honestly, who'd be surprised if it were true?).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spygate_( ... cy_theory)

While that claim seems to have been debunked (though I can't say I've looked into it closely enough to be sure; it's not like US intelligence agencies are exactly transparent about their activities), I do wish media outlets like The Guardian wouldn't play dumb with this stuff. You're not talking heads on a cable news opinion show passing the time by chatting about whatever comes into your head; you're actually supposed to inform the public. If you're a serious journalist, that is, which I concede is a big "if".

[Tannin]

^ Nonsense. Trump is making a claim, it is up to him to state what exactly that claim is.

Any other view is ridiculous.

[David]

[pietillidie]

[pietillidie]

Another record for Captain Coronavirus:

The United States recorded its largest monthly deficit in history in April as the government began funneling billions of dollars of stimulus funds to cushion the economy from the coronavirus pandemic.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/12/busi ... virus.html

His deficit levels were already astronomical before the crisis thanks to his tax cuts for billionaires, military spending and vanity wall. But this is the icing on the cake for someone who specialises in leveraging others into paying his debts.

[Tannin]

Eloquent posting. We are on the same page here, PTID.

[stui magpie]

If the USA goes to the wall we're all in deep shit, China will take over.

[think positive]

If the USA goes to the wall we're all in deep shit, China will take over.

yup! and ill be the first to say i told you so! better the devil you know!

[watt price tully]

If the USA goes to the wall we're all in deep shit, China will take over.

Is that the wall the Mexicans are paying for?

[watt price tully]

Another record for Captain Coronavirus:

The United States recorded its largest monthly deficit in history in April as the government began funneling billions of dollars of stimulus funds to cushion the economy from the coronavirus pandemic.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/12/busi ... virus.html

His deficit levels were already astronomical before the crisis thanks to his tax cuts for billionaires, military spending and vanity wall. But this is the icing on the cake for someone who specialises in leveraging others into paying his debts.

Correct weight. The US deficit pre corona virus was astronomical before Trump decided to give tax cuts to billionaires.

[stui magpie]

If the USA goes to the wall we're all in deep shit, China will take over.

Is that the wall the Mexicans are paying for?

[Wokko]

Special election (by-election) in California district 25. Hillary won this district by 6%. Republican candidate heavily backed by Trump.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/202 ... ction.html