140

https://youtu.be/iMpIMvbXsag

12/19/2018 5:23:14 PM

^^ of course they were just blank paper.

^ the t_d crowd's taste in humor is pretty simple.

12/19/2018 7:21:21 PM

Quote :

"whotf does this ?"

A grifter, that's who. Trump's whole schtick is to be ridiculous enough that serious people won't take him seriously but serious enough that ridiculous people will take him seriously.

He's somehow managed to run a pitch-perfect Nigerian prince scam. His entire political career has been so over-the-top outrageous that most reasonable people immediately see it as such, dismiss it, and find it unbelievable that anyone would fall for it. Meanwhile, those people do exist and not only do they fall for Trump's messaging, they bite hard and won't let go.

Those stacks of blank paper are the perfect example. How do you reason with anyone who believes hand waving at piles of blank paper means something? He's literally selling nothing.

12/19/2018 8:07:25 PM

^ So that tells us that 40% of the population in the richest most powerful country in world are mentally challenged? Could that happen in Australia, Canada, NZ, UK, Western Europe?

I still shake my head at how it is possible for this to be happening. What does that say about American education and values, at least 40% of it?

12/19/2018 8:46:54 PM

Can't just let them all off the hook as ridiculous idiots, many know exactly what Trump is, they are just greedy evil racists.

12/19/2018 9:39:52 PM

^ No doubt a good chunk of his supporters are cynical opportunists, but they're only there for the true believers. They'll move on when the true believers do.

^^ It doesn't say anything about the US that can't be said about the rest of the world.

12/19/2018 10:45:20 PM

^ right, there are a number of supporters who would much rather be a supporter of any other Republican, but as long as he’s the hand they’re dealt, will support Trump no matter what.

12/20/2018 1:01:55 AM

Good on Trump for finally trying to get out of Syria, Obama never should have sent troops there.

12/20/2018 8:04:33 AM

Pulling out of Syria is one of the worst decisions he could have made. We are in a low profile deployment that gives us leverage in the area and keeps the Kurds from being slaughtered by Turkey/Assad.

This is very very bad.

The fact that he didn't discuss this with anyone is amazing. Its as if he needs to do anything to distract the public.

We will never be able to garner any trust from any potential new allies in the region after back to back hasty withdrawals in Iraq and Syria. If this happens.

Nobody in the intelligence community wants this.

12/20/2018 8:27:28 AM

Erdogan asked him too last week so he could gut the Kurds and I’m sure Trump got assurances the Saudi arms deal wouldn’t get fucked up. Let’s not make this any more complicated than it is. 99% of what he does can be attributed to “last guy who complimented me asked me to do this.”

12/20/2018 8:49:37 AM

The problem I have right now is I can't determine which is important. The media is going crazy saying this is a victory for Russia. Trump is saying he's pulling out because we beat ISIS.

I don't believe at all that we've beat ISIS but I have a really hard time giving a fuck about Russia's "advantage" in Syria.

I also have a problem with abandoning the Kurds, which is what I actually think this may be about, particularly if he's attempting to calm Turkey down with respect to Saudi Arabia.

Whole situation's a cluster fuck.

12/20/2018 8:51:12 AM

I think everyone needs to consider the possibility that this is just another distraction and Trump trying to control the news cycle.

These types of knee-jerk, not consulting anyone, decisions that Trump has announced via twitter have happened before, and they never stick around or turn into concrete action. We'll get a few more declarations from Trump over the next week, his cabinet/the pentagon will walk it back, pundits will act outraged, and absolutely nothing of substance will actually change.

What exactly He is trying to distract from, I have no idea (there's a lot of bad news out there for him right now), but until the Pentagon actually announces a withdrawal plan, I'd be skeptical that this materializes into anything.

[Edited on December 20, 2018 at 9:13 AM. Reason : I didn't see that BEU made this exact argument till just now.]

12/20/2018 9:13:18 AM

https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2018/12/mil-181219-voa02.htm

https://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/syria/2018/syria-181219-sputnik01.htm

12/20/2018 10:33:35 AM

Haha Trump is going to veto the CR and “shut down” the govt (which is actually only like 5% of the govt).

Pelosi fucking ran circles around him on this. What a clown.

12/20/2018 10:37:06 AM

So we gonna call this the "Fox and Friends" shutdown? Or the "Coulter" shutdown? The only reason this is happening is because he got butt hurt watching those folks drag him all over cable news.

Correction: it's the "Limbaugh shutdown".

Quote :

"Chris Stigall ? @ChrisStigall Rush Limbaugh just stated @realDonaldTrump notified him personally that he is either getting money for the border, or he is shutting the government down."

[Edited on December 20, 2018 at 2:09 PM. Reason : .]

12/20/2018 1:52:39 PM

House Freedom Caucus Shutdown.

Thank GOD awe have like a week left of these fucks getting the slightest bit of attention.

12/20/2018 2:27:47 PM

Hopefully Democrats stand firm during that week.

12/20/2018 2:47:21 PM

There's a 0% chance the Dems cave on this. For one, most of the government is already funded through September 2019, that was part of the big budget deal they passed last year. The departments affected by a shutdown would be Justice, Homeland Security (lol), Interior, State, and HUD.

12/20/2018 2:55:09 PM

Never say never.

But, yeah, there's zero reason to cave.

12/20/2018 2:56:27 PM

It'll be a nice bookend to Ryan's Speakership where he accomplished, *checks notes*........ nothing.

12/20/2018 3:14:32 PM

He doesn't have the votes and he won't get the votes. Individual-1's dream of a wall is about to go up in smoke. He couldn't get it done with one party rule and the Dem's are about to take over in the House next month.

12/20/2018 3:39:41 PM

It really is amazing how little Republicans have accomplished over the past two years.

12/20/2018 4:32:37 PM

A lot of them are proud of that. You know, limited government and what not.

12/20/2018 4:34:01 PM

Looks like we're done with Afghanistan too.

12/20/2018 8:19:12 PM

I think these are signs Trump is on his way out. Leaving behind chaos, putting Russia in as good a strategic position as possible in the middle east.

12/20/2018 9:03:38 PM

Barbara Lee, as always, has the correct nuanced approach to the haphazard and morally bankrupt Trump foreign policy.

Pelosi, right now, was right choice for Speaker but Lee needs to be next in line.

12/21/2018 6:25:01 AM

12/21/2018 2:09:56 PM

Just because Trump threw shit at a wall doesn't make him Jackson Pollock.

12/21/2018 3:03:17 PM

who is claiming that?

12/21/2018 3:06:05 PM

Looks like $1.6 billion for "border security" will save us from a shutdown. Exactly where we started.

12/21/2018 4:43:41 PM

Or not, at least one night of shutdown.

12/21/2018 5:48:21 PM

^^^ Probably should've thought of a better way to phrase that.

The idea that "Hey, I want out of Syria too! This is great!" is seriously misguided, even when caveated with "I know Trump is a turd, but..." I'm all for realpolitik, but this isn't a case where aligned goals should supersede differing motivations. Trump is amoral, has no principles beyond self-interest, and is so intellectually weak that he's not really guided by self-interest so much as he's guided by whatever someone has convinced him is his self-interest. At best, he's an unreliable partner. More likely, Trump co-ops whatever moral authority and political capital you have, fucks things up, blames you, and then leaves you smelling like a pig farm lagoon.

Not to mention that Twitter mic drops probably aren't the best way to pull out of Syria and Afghanistan.

Trump is selling what he thinks people want to hear. Don't buy it.

12/21/2018 6:09:01 PM

Did you read the same tweets that I did?

12/21/2018 6:26:53 PM

I don't read Twitter, so unless those tweets were somewhere else...

12/21/2018 6:34:38 PM

What exactly is the problem with those tweets?

12/21/2018 7:33:23 PM

Lol. Answer my questions so I can be a nerd.

12/21/2018 11:04:10 PM

The first four: OK, whatever.

Number 5: And last week wasn't?

Quote :

"But these withdrawals would represent a dent in the armor of the bipartisan war machine."

Pulling out of Syria isn't an automatic win. In fact, there's a lot of potential for it to get way shittier, which would be the opposite of a win. What do you think will happen so you can tell the bipartisan war machine 'I told you so'?

Quote :

"This chaos presents opportunity."

Sure. It presents opportunity for you and everyone else. That's the problem with chaos, and there's no guarantee you'll be the one to benefit.

12/21/2018 11:49:20 PM

first step criminal justice reform bill

good. of course most of the racist war on drugs prisoners are at the state level tho

12/22/2018 9:11:14 AM

Trump doesn’t have an ideology or doctrine of being anti war.

People who are anti war aren’t merely anti war; they’re anti war in pursuit of the goal of humanitarian policies both domestically and internationally

This is not Trump. Anti war people should try to use Trump, but with literally no one else in his admin supporting this goal I’m not sure how far they would get. Trump surrounds himself with people like Bolton and Erik Prince.

With no plan, I can’t see the humanitarian crisis in Syria getting better at all

12/22/2018 3:18:45 PM

Anyone arguing that we should stay in Syria please never pretend to be a progressive or small l liberal

12/22/2018 3:39:06 PM

Who put you in charge of litmus tests?

There's a lot of space between 'stay in Syria' and ghosting the country.

12/22/2018 4:07:06 PM

You just implied that an opportunity to get out of Syria is bad

12/22/2018 5:58:52 PM

This opportunity is bad. But I'm still curious to hear how you think it'll go.

12/23/2018 12:01:56 AM

Quote :

"Anyone arguing that we should stay in Syria please never pretend to be a progressive or small l liberal"

Noam Chomsky, now a right-wing war monger:
http://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/13cf816e-8e40-41c8-bb76-d453a3261d8b?fbclid=IwAR1xMfQi9nNe1CGWsANwqg2QfwQzIssvsZkqQexSlDJ1zj06VsXdu9gDKlc

Quote :

"The US should stay in northern Syria to deter attacks against Syrian Kurds, well-known American linguist and political activist Noam Chomsky said in an interview with the Intercept last week. “The other crucial question is the status of the Kurdish areas — Rojava. In my opinion, it makes sense for the United States to maintain a presence which would deter an attack on the Kurdish areas,” he said."

12/23/2018 9:05:15 AM

The dye was cast on day 1 in regards to screwing over the Kurds

12/23/2018 9:15:37 AM

I think you’re definitely right about that, there’s never been a feasible plan to give them the kind of independent state that they’ve wanted, but it illustrates that Our status in Syria is incredibly complicated, and not at all black and white.

12/23/2018 9:27:58 AM

No one is claiming its black and white

It seems like people have an issue with the mentality of the tweets above because they think it somehow influences what trump does?

12/23/2018 9:30:38 AM

No one thinks Trump gives two shits about a Jeremy Scahill tweet.

12/23/2018 9:37:17 AM

People have an issue with those tweets because they know what comes next. It’s Scahill et al (the purity police) accusing everyone of not being progressive because we are having nuanced conversations about the clusterfuck that is Syria.

12/23/2018 9:41:52 AM

Pretty much.

Plus, there's no need to lend Trump even a hint of legitimacy on this.

12/23/2018 10:55:42 AM