IGX

Anonymous Op Ed from Sr. Administration Official in the NYT:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/05/opin ... tance.html

Given the instability many witnessed, there were early whispers within the cabinet of invoking the 25th Amendment, which would start a complex process for removing the president. But no one wanted to precipitate a constitutional crisis. So we will do what we can to steer the administration in the right direction until — one way or another — it’s over.

That's...not good.

David Frum here is very persuasive. The idea that "we didn't want to spark a constitutional crisis by invoking the 25th, so we just disobeyed orders left and right" is creating an actual constitutional crisis.

Impeachment is a constitutional mechanism. The 25th Amendment is a constitutional mechanism. Mass resignations followed by voluntary testimony to congressional committees are a constitutional mechanism. Overt defiance of presidential authority by the president’s own appointees—now that’s a constitutional crisis.

If the president’s closest advisers believe that he is morally and intellectually unfit for his high office, they have a duty to do their utmost to remove him from it, by the lawful means at hand. That duty may be risky to their careers in government or afterward. But on their first day at work, they swore an oath to defend the Constitution—and there were no “riskiness” exemptions in the text of that oath.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archi ... edit-promo

The Times today is taking the rare step of publishing an anonymous Op-Ed essay. We have done so at the request of the author, a senior official in the Trump administration whose identity is known to us and whose job would be jeopardized by its disclosure.

It's probably Trump himself.

Jew bullshit.

Kazuya Mishima wrote: ↑Wed Sep 05, 2018 9:44 pm Jew bullshit.

Which one, Steve Mnuchin, Jared Kushner or Ivanka Trump?

Kaz is now the resident Baghdad Bob.

If anyone is at all surprised by the sheer tonnery of Trump’s incompetence and immorality, they weren’t paying attention during the election.

These are confusing times, enough so, that a return to basic principles may be warranted. Now, I am assuming that the NYT actually knows who this person is, and knows that they are what they say they are. How they intend to keep this information from the Secret Service who is, almost certainly, investigating them I don't know. But anyway, let's assume that it's legit.

Now, on the one hand I can see why some people would be outraged: Trump was democratically elected and the people this columnist represents are undermining the orderly hierarchies of our government.

On the other hand, I can see why some people would think this was a good thing. Trump is a reckless and impulsive person, and those aren't good qualities in a leader. The unhinged, petty, and vindictive ways that he wields power can do lasting damage to American institutions, relationships, and prestige.

Personally, I think the thing to do is to go back to basics. There is a clear system in our Constitution for the impeachment of high officials, including the President. Article 1, Section 2 and 3 give congress and the senate, respectively, the right to impeach and try a President for "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors."

So my take is that, however well meaning these people are, until they are willing to go before congress and provide evidence of impeachable crimes and misdemeanors, they are violating the Constitution and themselves are a threat to our republic. Trump may well be guilty of these offenses, but there's a clear path to establishing that, and they are not following it, and that in of itself is a huge problem. The USA is the greatest country on earth, established with the best Constitution ever, and our best hope for the future is to cleave to it closely.

Grandpa's Spells wrote: ↑Wed Sep 05, 2018 9:23 pmDavid Frum here is very persuasive. The idea that "we didn't want to spark a constitutional crisis by invoking the 25th, so we just disobeyed orders left and right" is creating an actual constitutional crisis.

If the president’s closest advisers believe that he is morally and intellectually unfit for his high office, they have a duty to do their utmost to remove him from it, by the lawful means at hand. That duty may be risky to their careers in government or afterward. But on their first day at work, they swore an oath to defend the Constitution—and there were no “riskiness” exemptions in the text of that oath.

Totally.

The piece is convincing. (It also dovetails nicely with the Bob Woodward book.) But the author is a self-deluding sack of shit. He says:

Given the instability many witnessed, there were early whispers within the cabinet of invoking the 25th Amendment, which would start a complex process for removing the president. But no one wanted to precipitate a constitutional crisis.

Bull. Shit. No one wanted to miss the opportunity to enact massive tax cuts, take health care from millions of Americans, gut the EPA & Dept of Ed, and put a couple of crackpots on SCOTUS. You decided to shirk your duty to get partisan victories. And now you want to a pat on the back for it.

Fuck off and die.

I give it a week and we will know who the author is.

He should come forward and lay it all out there.

Foxnews.com is actually covering this. I expected another “MS 13 and a black guy are stealing your magic beans” breaking story.

JimZipCode wrote: ↑Thu Sep 06, 2018 12:18 amthe author is a self-deluding sack of shit.

nafod wrote: ↑Thu Sep 06, 2018 12:51 amI give it a week and we will know who the author is.

My wife says it's Pence. Says he uses "lodestar" frequently.

I find that utterly convincing. It makes perfect sense. The whole self-congratulatory tone fits. The simultaneous distancing from the bad stuff while trumpeting the administration's successes – the whole have-it-both-ways approach – it's his campaign speech for the next election cycle.

That fucker.

The predictions of Republicans losing the House has people in DC running scared. Because we know the polls are always accurate...

Turdacious wrote: ↑Thu Sep 06, 2018 4:29 amThe predictions of Republicans losing the House has people in DC running scared. Because we know the polls are always accurate...

Yeah. It's a dream. The map's not good for blue. And worse in the senate.

JimZipCode wrote: ↑Thu Sep 06, 2018 3:18 am

JimZipCode wrote: ↑Thu Sep 06, 2018 12:18 amthe author is a self-deluding sack of shit.

nafod wrote: ↑Thu Sep 06, 2018 12:51 amI give it a week and we will know who the author is.

My wife says it's Pence. Says he uses "lodestar" frequently.

I find that utterly convincing. It makes perfect sense. The whole self-congratulatory tone fits. The simultaneous distancing from the bad stuff while trumpeting the administration's successes – the whole have-it-both-ways approach – it's his campaign speech for the next election cycle.

That fucker.

Pence would be Shakespearean.

Whoever they are, they are doing the job that the legislature isn’t.

Congress is supposed to provide the checks and balances, instead it’s got Trump stooges and party-first republicans at the helm.

It took Fox about an hour so of ignoring the story and talking about Pelosi Tax Hikes before they could coordinate their response with the WH.

The idea that’s guy who won’t be in the same room alone with a woman who isn’t his wife imight be the new Deepthroat is pretty hilarious.

Thud wrote: ↑Wed Sep 05, 2018 10:51 pm

Kazuya Mishima wrote: ↑Wed Sep 05, 2018 9:44 pm Jew bullshit.

Which one, Steve Mnuchin, Jared Kushner or Ivanka Trump?

If The Don deserves to be criticized for anything, it's the fact that he married his lovely daughter off to that pack of brick and dirt merchants. Grandbabies will now be mixed species, and I am disappoint.

Thud wrote: ↑Wed Sep 05, 2018 10:51 pm

Kazuya Mishima wrote: ↑Wed Sep 05, 2018 9:44 pm Jew bullshit.

Which one, Steve Mnuchin, Jared Kushner or Ivanka Trump?

Bill Shine, Comms Dept. IMO

Kazuya Mishima wrote: ↑Thu Sep 06, 2018 1:33 pm

Thud wrote: ↑Wed Sep 05, 2018 10:51 pm

Kazuya Mishima wrote: ↑Wed Sep 05, 2018 9:44 pm Jew bullshit.

Which one, Steve Mnuchin, Jared Kushner or Ivanka Trump?

If The Don deserves to be criticized for anything, it's the fact that he married his lovely daughter off to that pack of brick and dirt merchants. Grandbabies will now be mixed species, and I am disappoint.

Kaz, I bet your 23andMe report reads like a United Nations roll call

nafod wrote: ↑Thu Sep 06, 2018 10:25 pm

Kazuya Mishima wrote: ↑Thu Sep 06, 2018 1:33 pm

Thud wrote: ↑Wed Sep 05, 2018 10:51 pm

Kazuya Mishima wrote: ↑Wed Sep 05, 2018 9:44 pm Jew bullshit.

Which one, Steve Mnuchin, Jared Kushner or Ivanka Trump?

If The Don deserves to be criticized for anything, it's the fact that he married his lovely daughter off to that pack of brick and dirt merchants. Grandbabies will now be mixed species, and I am disappoint.

Kaz, I bet your 23andMe report reads like a United Nations roll call

Muh racism. Please, nafod, we're above that sort of thing here.

nafod wrote: ↑Thu Sep 06, 2018 10:25 pm

Kazuya Mishima wrote: ↑Thu Sep 06, 2018 1:33 pm

Thud wrote: ↑Wed Sep 05, 2018 10:51 pm

Kazuya Mishima wrote: ↑Wed Sep 05, 2018 9:44 pm Jew bullshit.

Which one, Steve Mnuchin, Jared Kushner or Ivanka Trump?

If The Don deserves to be criticized for anything, it's the fact that he married his lovely daughter off to that pack of brick and dirt merchants. Grandbabies will now be mixed species, and I am disappoint.

Kaz, I bet your 23andMe report reads like a United Nations roll call

Perhaps. If true, then by all observable metrics the third world DNA has been downgraded to recessive status and rides in the back of the bus where it belongs.