Is Trump doing a good job?

[dualstow]

Richard Grenell, the crappy ambassador to Germany, is set to become Trump’s shitty Director of National Intelligence. Surely we can all agree that this is not a wise pick. Anyone disagree?

[flyingpylon]

Richard Grenell, the crappy ambassador to Germany, is set to become Trump’s shitty Director of National Intelligence. Surely we can all agree that this is not a wise pick. Anyone disagree?

What specifically makes him crappy?

What actions will elevate him to shitty?

[Kriegsspiel]

I've never heard of him.

[Mountaineer]

Perhaps "splitting" underlies how some can see a set of facts or a situation one way, and others the opposite way. I had never heard of "splitting" prior to reading this article.

https://heterodoxacademy.org/social-sci ... -politics/

[dualstow]

Richard Grenell, the crappy ambassador to Germany, is set to become Trump’s shitty Director of National Intelligence. Surely we can all agree that this is not a wise pick. Anyone disagree?

What specifically makes him crappy?

What actions will elevate him to shitty?

I thought he was (in)famous by now. I encourage everyone to read up on him.

[Kbg]

Richard Grenell, the crappy ambassador to Germany, is set to become Trump’s shitty Director of National Intelligence. Surely we can all agree that this is not a wise pick. Anyone disagree?

What specifically makes him crappy?

What actions will elevate him to shitty?

I thought he was (in)famous by now. I encourage everyone to read up on him.

Anyone whom the lamestream media attacks starts off with points in his favor.

And the endorsement of the Federalist is pretty valuable too. If this article is even close to being correct he will be a great asset: https://thefederalist.com/2020/02/20/wh ... eep-state/

Yep, let's get our facts only from solid media outlets.

[Kbg]

What’s the point?

I guess if white collar crime and corruption are no bigs to you let’s just agree to disagree. The majority of the latest batch are exactly that...not all, the majority. Most of the right wing spin on these mention evil aggressive Federal attorneys as a root problem...completely forgetting they were convicted by a jury of citizens, sentenced by a federal judge.

Last post.

[Libertarian666]

What’s the point?

I guess if white collar crime and corruption are no bigs to you let’s just agree to disagree. The majority of the latest batch are exactly that...not all, the majority. Most of the right wing spin on these mention evil aggressive Federal attorneys as a root problem...completely forgetting they were convicted by a jury of citizens, sentenced by a federal judge.

Last post.

So you admit that your characterization was incorrect. Fine with me.

[Kriegsspiel]

The US has reached what an official called “a reduction of violence agreement” with the Taliban that could lead to an American troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, a senior administration official said Friday.
link

The week-long reduction in violence deal hashed out between the Taliban and the U.S. appears to be holding up. Attacks have so far been significantly reduced, potentially leading to the signing of a long-term peace deal on Feb. 29 and the withdrawal of American troops.
. . .
The Taliban claimed a couple of IED strikes against Afghan military and logistics convoys in Farah and Zabul provinces on Tuesday. The Taliban also claimed an attack near Sangin in Helmand Province on Monday.

The Taliban have clarified that the reduction in violence is not a cease-fire. The Taliban agreed to not attack major military installations, provincial capitals and major cities but the militants say passing logistics convoys and rural areas are still open battlegrounds. link

Well, it's certainly a pragmatic move to aim for a period of reduced-violence in February, which is outside the fighting season in Afghanistan.

[Kriegsspiel]

The US has reached what an official called “a reduction of violence agreement” with the Taliban that could lead to an American troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, a senior administration official said Friday.
link

The week-long reduction in violence deal hashed out between the Taliban and the U.S. appears to be holding up. Attacks have so far been significantly reduced, potentially leading to the signing of a long-term peace deal on Feb. 29 and the withdrawal of American troops.
. . .
The Taliban claimed a couple of IED strikes against Afghan military and logistics convoys in Farah and Zabul provinces on Tuesday. The Taliban also claimed an attack near Sangin in Helmand Province on Monday.

The Taliban have clarified that the reduction in violence is not a cease-fire. The Taliban agreed to not attack major military installations, provincial capitals and major cities but the militants say passing logistics convoys and rural areas are still open battlegrounds. link

Well, it's certainly a pragmatic move to aim for a period of reduced-violence in February, which is outside the fighting season in Afghanistan.

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Hmm.

[dualstow]

I'm not a leftist, but the Oval Office speech tonight was not very good.
Sylvester Stallone's plastic surgeon isn't this ham-handed.

[pmward]

It was terrible. It was basically him pointing the finger and trash talking Europe, announcing he was going to block travel to them, then repeating a bunch of other stuff we already knew. Also, was it just me or did he sound sick?

[dualstow]

It was terrible. It was basically him pointing the finger and trash talking Europe, announcing he was going to block travel to them, then repeating a bunch of other stuff we already knew. Also, was it just me or did he sound sick?

He sounded like he's been talking a long time. Probably just all those meetings. There were a few swallowed syllables, though, like he was out of breath.

[pmward]

That could be it. He sounded very hoarse and it seemed to me like he was holding back coughing at one point. But yeah, maybe he has just been talking a lot today with all that's going on.

[dualstow]

If he had coughed or sneezed, it would have been like that Bradley Cooper movie where you see the Pres on TV and he has that sallow face that everyone else on the drug has. I was kind of waiting for Trump to cough, I admit.

[dualstow]

“I ran the White House pandemic office. Trump closed it.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/ ... story.html

[Kriegsspiel]

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said Tuesday that he will ask the Trump administration to reconsider its vow to immediately cut $1 billion in aid to Afghanistan because of a political standoff in Kabul. . . a heavy hit for a country that relies on foreign money to pay three-quarters of its expenses.link

Good first step. GTFO of that shithole.

[dualstow]

What’s all this about an Easter plan? Is that a bit early to go back to work?
I’m interested in reading the details.

[vnatale]

What’s all this about an Easter plan? Is that a bit early to go back to work?
I’m interested in reading the details.

I believe in his own words (If I heard them correctly) after a reporter questioned him..."that is only two weeks and nine days from now". As I just wrote that it does not make sense. But then again I was not giving the listening to him my full attention. I was probably also doing something like this in this forum!!!

Vinny

[Tyler]

“I ran the White House pandemic office. Trump closed it.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/ ... story.html

A rebuttal:

"No, the White House didn't 'dissolve' its pandemic response office. I was there."

(The original was in the Washington Post, but here's a reprint with no paywall.)
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/artic ... 42683.html

[dualstow]

Thank you, Tyler! I will read tonight. I read it. Fair enough, I’m convinced. Sometimes I treat Real Clear Politics the way some of you view CNN, but I can accept his premise that it was a political jab.

This is frustrating. I was beaten over the head with that original story, the accusation, by news show guest after news show guest, not just the original article. And now I believe it’s specious. I’m glad I don’t get too worked up about politics, but it’s tiring.

[flyingpylon]

What’s all this about an Easter plan? Is that a bit early to go back to work?
I’m interested in reading the details.

Trump is an eternal optimist, and that comes through in his statements. He said he’d love to have things back open by Easter. Not that the actual plan is to reopen by Easter. But I guess we’ll see.

[Tyler]

What’s all this about an Easter plan? Is that a bit early to go back to work?
I’m interested in reading the details.

My observation is that too many people fall into the fallacy that the whole country must surely be just like the neighborhood outside their own door. Media personalities are not immune, and they often project that the entire country must surely be on the same path as the chaos in New York. And they treat any potential solution as involving equal actions across the entire nation. But it doesn't necessarily work like that. Solutions to problems this big usually come in stages.

I have zero evidence this is the plan, but my educated guess is that the eventual solution will involve continued lockdowns in the major cities with unsustainable outbreaks (NY, SF, etc), while most places that haven't already been overrun will eventually have enough testing (drive-thru, test at home), treatments (hydroxychloroquine), and mitigation strategies (masks, practiced distancing, etc) to safely open up for business. Coastal elites will whine that they're not allowed to leave town and scream that the whole country will soon suffer the same fate. There may even be a few missteps, and people will jump on them as evidence that leadership is being reckless. But they will eventually learn that the US is a big country and most of it will be fine. And citizens demanding lockdown today will eventually demand to be free again.

Now whether that can start by Easter, I have no idea. But I think it could be sooner than you'd think by only listening to people reporting on the very worst situations.

[dualstow]

Whether that turns out to be the plan or not, specific lockdowns for troubled metropoles makes good sense.

[Xan]

What’s all this about an Easter plan? Is that a bit early to go back to work?
I’m interested in reading the details.

My observation is that too many people fall into the fallacy that the whole country must surely be just like the neighborhood outside their own door. Media personalities are not immune, and they often project that the entire country must surely be on the same path as the chaos in New York. And they treat any potential solution as involving equal actions across the entire nation. But it doesn't necessarily work like that. Solutions to problems this big usually come in stages.

I have zero evidence this is the plan, but my educated guess is that the eventual solution will involve continued lockdowns in the major cities with unsustainable outbreaks (NY, SF, etc), while most places that haven't already been overrun will eventually have enough testing (drive-thru, test at home), treatments (hydroxychloroquine), and mitigation strategies (masks, practiced distancing, etc) to safely open up for business. Coastal elites will whine that they're not allowed to leave town and scream that the whole country will soon suffer the same fate. There may even be a few missteps, and people will jump on them as evidence that leadership is being reckless. But they will eventually learn that the US is a big country and most of it will be fine. And citizens demanding lockdown today will eventually demand to be free again.

Now whether that can start by Easter, I have no idea. But I think it could be sooner than you'd think by only listening to people reporting on the very worst situations.

I thought Governor Abbott handled this particularly well by avoiding statewide orders, and leaving it up to local authorities. Something like 200 of the 254 counties in Texas have zero cases. Lockdown doesn't make sense there.