This is the first time I've heard McGreevey's name mentioned in the context of the Trump New Jersey/Kaine thing. Most people were talking about Tom Kean.
Since he didn't actually say Tom, and Kean is pronounced like Kaine, and the comment about a "$4 billion tax increase" isn't indicative of Kean, my guess is Trump knew who he was talking about but substituted New Jersey for Virginia out of pure inattention.
What would it mean for Trump's words to mean anything at all?
Somebody had to brief Trump, probably for more than 5 minutes. And he seems physically incapable of paying attention.
2.last: His ghostwriter for The Art Of The Deal says this is true and has been since way back. He's been doing the rounds slagging Trump to anyone who'll listen.
a rookie mistake
I dunno, "rookie" seems to imply that there is a more or less normal learning curve for Trump, that he will gain more insight and expertise as he acquires more experience.
Anyway, I think it was a genuine* (rather than a calculated) mistake.
*I don't want to say an "honest" mistake, because nothing about Trump is honest. He lies habitually -- and sometimes, it seems, without any apparent motive or purpose (though, who knows? he may be playing some deep game).
I dunno, "rookie" seems to imply that there is a more or less normal learning curve for Trump, that he will gain more insight and expertise as he acquires more experience.
Right, whereas he actually seems to somehow be going backwards on these things.
I think the DNC convention did exactly what she needed it to do. I'm much more optimistic now.
I wasn't paying close enough attention to really have an opinion on that myself, but I sure hope you're right.
Like I said in the other thread, though, I'm seeing lots of enthusiasm on FB, which is a good sign.
Seeing stuff like this https://twitter.com/michikokakutani/status/758818754134323200 is heartening but we'll see what the poll show.
So when does the other major party have its convention? So far it's been the DNC and some radical right fringe group.
Right, whereas he actually seems to somehow be going backwards on these things.
The arc of Donald Trump's learning curve is long, but it bends towards ignorance.
My wife was surprisingly affected when Clinton stepped up to the stage last night. I thought it was a good speech, though I really wish she had had a mute for her throat clearing.
||
Within hours of his first CIA briefing Trump leaks the presence of a US base in Saudi Arabia. Gotta fucking love this guy.
|>
13: so to be fair, he might not have been briefed about a base in SA & could have been talking out of his ass.
I wonder if the CIA has the authority/has considered using his classified briefings to spread disinformation yet. If he wins the election I doubt he'll remember anything they've told him (nothing in his past suggests that level of attention to not-Donald-Trump, after all, and he's already talked about delegating all that foreign and domestic policy stuff to other people anyway). It seems like the sort of thing that could work, as long as they could figure out a way to dodge any retribution from the Republicans later on (see also: Darryl Issa).
You have a touching faith in the ability of the CIA to do anything resembling spycraft.
Hey, I'm not saying they wouldn't screw it up or anything, just that it seems like a really promising opportunity.
Can they designate a presidential candidate as not having full security clearance?
A good summary of what's actually in these briefings. Nothing very important, apparently.
Since no one reads links, the basic point from the article in 20 is that the briefings don't contain anything higher than Secret classification (all the really important stuff is Top Secret), and the president can further restrict what they contain. It seems really unlikely that the existence of a secret base in Saudi Arabia wouldn't be considered Top Secret.
I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if Trumpolini made up the existence of a base in Saudi Arabia.
I suspect he just doesn't know that the ones we used to have there were shut down.
Or like most of us he doesn't know the definition of a "base". We certainly have some military people based in Saudi Arabia doing something.
And nothing bad could come from reminding everybody about that.
Wouldn't the traditional ratfuck of Trump now be to point out all the times he was a mensch w.r.t. jews or gays or hispanics (e.g. sticking up to nightclubs that wouldn't let his jewish s.i.l. join) then forcing him to deny those actions?
What you do if you're Hillary is you wait for the next time Trump says something prominent and contrary to fact, and then get in high dudgeon about how he's leaking classified information,or have your surrogates do so. The S. A. thing would do, but it might actually be damaging to the country.
I want to see some high profile surrogate go with "multi-millionaire Donald Trump is afraid to release his tax returns." Aren't the Clintons worth about $100 million now? Suggest that Trump's at maybe no more than 3 times that.
She could have an ally in the State Department or CIA denounce Trump for lying about (some recent nonsense claim) and insist that he was just making it up and that he definitely did not hear that in a classified briefing I mean come on that would be insane would we do that anyway it's not true he made it up.
It seems to me that:
1. Trump doesn't care about factual accuracy or truth or anything like that, but if he says something his base will believe it, because they want to;
2. Calling him out in the tradition of "At long last have you no decency?" will not work because he hasn't and because his base like him being outrageous because they like to see the enemy being offended;
Therefore, maybe Clinton should try casting him as totally boring. Confronted by some crap he's said she should shrug and say something like, "Yeah, well, y'know!" In the unlikely event of there ever being a debate she should yawn in his face. Mostly ignore him. Concentrate on her own message.
If Clinton's laugh didn't turn an awful lot of people, especially in the press, off because of sexism how ridiculously obvious sexism it sounds to pathetically transparent misogynists, the dismissive mockery that Biden gave Ryan in the 2012 debate would probably be the ideal approach. "Why would I be offended by a pathetic imbecile like this?" is the sort of message that conveys both that he's indecent and awful but also that he's not even powerful enough for that to be offensive. It's also the exact thing most likely to send Trump and his fan club absolutely screaming mad which would probably hurt him at the debates.
If the media don't like her laugh, a wry smile and a shrug might do.
"Why would I be offended by a pathetic imbecile like this?"
Wrong approach: it just lends itself to characterization of Democrats/Hillary Clinton as privileged elitists, think they're better than us, etc. White working class voters probably don't like hearing suggestions that they're stupid.
The better approach would be the "loose cannon" narrative. I recently heard an interview with a guy in Philly who said he'd originally been for Trump, but was thinking Hillary now because she just seems more serious. That's the ticket.
The thing about that characterization though is that it's strongly self-reinforcing pretty much no matter what the Democrats do, as long as someone is willing to make the argument.
Refusing to rise to Trump's attempts to provoke a fight or be deeply offended (leaving that to subordinates if necessary which, honestly, it's not even looking like it is) but instead responding with disinterest, or treating him like a potentially dangerous clown is emasculating, which is exactly what Trump can't stand. The more you can bait him with that the more pathetic and less serious he seems to people, and that's the sort of thing that's going to make authoritarians feel uncomfortable. Sure most of them will retreat to us-against-the-world! but there's not much (more) danger there because they're already far enough into it for the most part that it's not going to change any dynamics.
I'm pretty sure Trump already had his balls cut off. Or his hands would be bigger.
I dunno, it's hard to imagine his personality developing the way it has without huge amounts of testosterone.
The real reason he has such affinity for Putin's Russia.
I'm betting he was castrated in a routine dominatrix accident circa 2008.
Moby, displaying a folksy Nebraskan understanding of 'routine'.
Isn't just my statistical background.
"In Pennsylvania, the BDSM industry is composed of two separate but equally important groups: the dominatrices who service clients, and the statisticians who calculate their insurance premiums. These are their stories."
This is a good piece on one of the things I've found most striking about the Trump campaign: how completely unforced most of their errors are.