Trump threatens 30-day reign of destruction on the way out of office - CNNPolitics
With 29 days left, can the Trump regime cause even more damage to American democracy? We know he will try his hardest.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
(CNN)Joe Biden will be president in 30 days. Until then, the question is how much damage can be done by a vengeful, delusional soon-to-be ex-President swilling conspiracy theories, whose wild anti-democratic instincts are being encouraged by fringe political opportunists.
Donald Trump will retain the awesome powers of the presidency until noon on January 20, and there's never been a time when he has been subject to as few restraining influences or has had a bigger incentive to cause disruption. Trump White House
- Some White House advisers fear Trump's final days
- House conservatives strategize with Trump and Pence in push to challenge Biden's win
- Four key ways Barr broke with Trump at the attorney general's news conference
- MAP: Full presidential election results
The President is spending day after day in his White House bunker, entertaining crackpot theories about imposing martial law, seizing voting machines and staging an intervention in Congress on January 6 to steal the election from Biden. Surrounded by the last dead-end loyalists, Trump is flinging lies and political venom like King Lear in a crumbling Twitter kingdom, alarming some staffers about what he will do next. On Monday, he huddled with a cabal of Republican lawmakers who plan to challenge the election on baseless claims of fraud at a special session of Congress to ratify the results on January 6. Read More
Two ways Trump can hurt America
Some White House advisers fear Trump's final days Trump can further damage the United States in the coming days in two ways -- by aggressive design and by his passive neglect of his sworn obligations to lead. His attempts to crush American democratic traditions by claiming a landslide victory in an election that he lost and that was not especially close fits into the first category. The President's behavior has sown huge mistrust of the fundamental underpinning of the US political system -- fair elections -- among millions of his voters and threatens to compromise the legitimacy of Biden's White House. CNN's Barbara Starr reported Tuesday that there is concern among executive office staff and the military's leadership that Trump could use his power as President and commander in chief in dangerous ways in the last days of his term. "We don't know what he might do," one officer in the Pentagon said. Another added: "We are in strange times." Pentagon anxiety rises as officers wait for Trump's next unpredictable move Trump's indifference to multiple crises stirred by his rule make up the second category of his political vandalism. This includes his apathy about a raging pandemic that has infected 18 million Americans and killed nearly 320,000 as an aching nation marks its darkest holiday season in generations. There is no substitute in the US governing system for the engagement of a President during a massive national enterprise. But there is also no sign that Trump cares to offer leadership to ensure the success of the mammoth vaccination program that holds hope of eventually ending the pandemic. This after his denial of the virulence of Covid-19 undoubtably worsened the death toll. Trump is also running interference for Russia, prioritizing the interests of an adversary over America's after a massive cyberattack blamed on the Kremlin. These infractions add up to the dereliction of presidential duty on a grand scale. It is impossible to imagine any other president of the modern era behaving in such a way or for either of the political parties to tolerate his abuse of power. Former President George W. Bush's neglect during Hurricane Katrina in 2005 seems tame by comparison. The current President's anti-democratic behavior since the election is validating the fears of critics -- and more than 80 million Biden voters -- who worried about his unchained behavior in a second term. Like many fading strongmen leaders, his antics are becoming more unhinged as the prospect of losing power becomes tangible.
Madcap schemes
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'Appalling': Bolton reacts to Flynn's pitch for martial law
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'Appalling': Bolton reacts to Flynn's pitch for martial law01:40 Even Trump's White House staff is concerned about what happens next, at a time when Washington is already braced for a flurry of politically self-serving or legally dubious presidential pardons in the coming weeks. "No one is sure where this is heading," one official told CNN's White House team on Monday in a disturbing behind-the-scenes glimpse at the mayhem unfolding in the West Wing. "He's still President for another month." The madcap schemes of some of Trump's acolytes -- such as retired Gen. Michael Flynn's mooted plan to send troops to battleground states to redo elections that the President lost -- have no chance of playing out. Even if Trump's renegades had the competence to mount such a threat, the courts have shown zero tolerance for the President's autocratic attempts to destroy US democracy. It is unthinkable the military would deploy to reverse a popular vote on US soil. Trump's extremism is also unfolding in the context of a landmark election after which the safety valves of the courts, the electoral safeguards in the states -- and eventually on parts of Capitol Hill -- stood firm in defense of democracy. But the fact that a defeated President is even hearing theories about imposing martial law in the Oval Office is unfathomable in the world's oldest, most influential democracy. Were it not for the outrageous assaults on the rule of law over the last four years and the evidence of a presidency tethered to the erratic personality of Trump, it would not be at all believable. "The rest of the world is watching all this. It is just making people wonder. What is going on in America?" an incredulous John Kasich, the Republican former governor of Ohio, said on CNN's "The Situation Room" on Monday. Trump's loss of composure is grave enough from a domestic point of view. But it sends a signal to US adversaries of a vacuum of leadership. His bizarre refusal to endorse his government's assessment that Russia is behind the cyberattack suggests there is a 30-day window of impunity for enemies dedicated to tarnishing US national interests. The thought of an agitated, emotional President faced with any sudden foreign policy crisis is not a reassuring one.
Barr breaks with the President
Four key ways Barr broke with Trump at the attorney general's news conference The extreme nature of Trump's final days meltdown is best encapsulated by the fact that Attorney General William Barr, who had accommodated many of the President's political assaults on the spirit of the law, has comprehensively broken with Trump as he prepares to leave office before Christmas. Barr said Monday that he saw no need to appoint a special counsel to probe baseless claims of electoral fraud. He drew a similar conclusion about Trump's demands for an investigation into Biden's son Hunter, who is already the subject of a criminal probe into his business dealings. In his farewell news conference on Monday, Barr said he saw no reason for the federal government to seize voting machines, a step advocated by Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani. And he said the massive cyber breach of the US government "certainly appears to be the Russians." Although Trump's most fervent loyalists have turned against him for his political apostasy toward the President, Barr remains a credible figure among many Senate Republicans and his comments will have strengthened Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's effort to stop any of his caucus seeking to mount a futile challenge to the election during a joint session of Congress to ratify the election result on January 6. But Barr will be gone in a few days, potentially allowing the President to lean on Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, who faces a tense few weeks leading the Justice Department before Biden's inauguration. Should he refuse to bend to the President's will, it is not impossible that Trump could fire him and seek a willing accomplice for his assaults on the rule of law -- emulating President Richard Nixon in the so-called "Saturday Night Massacre" in 1973. In an ominous sign for the days ahead, Trump told young conservative voters in Georgia over the phone Monday that "we won this in a landslide" and said he needed "backing from ... the Justice Department, and other people finally have to step up."
Plotting a stunt in Congress
House conservatives strategize with Trump and Pence in push to challenge Biden's win Trump's meeting with Republican lawmakers on Monday was the latest troubling sign that he is prepared to tear down the integrity of the US electoral system on the way out of the Oval Office door. The group is preparing to "fight back against mounting evidence of voter fraud. Stay tuned," White House chief of staff Mark Meadows tweeted, giving fresh life to falsehoods comprehensively debunked by the Supreme Court, multiple judges and Republican state election officials ever since the election. The effort will not succeed in invalidating Biden's election since Democrats control the House of Representatives and there is no sign that a majority of Republicans in the Senate -- most of whom are now acknowledging that Biden is President-elect -- will play along. But the pro-Trump lawmakers can stage a stunt that would make a mockery of democracy and further sow distrust of America's political system among the President's fervent supporters -- a scenario that could cause years of damage. Biden Transition
- Biden receives first dose of Covid-19 vaccine
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- Here's which Biden Cabinet and other top roles haven't been announced yet
- MAP: Full presidential election results
Fringe figures around Trump besides Giuliani and Flynn include Sidney Powell, the lawyer who only just a few weeks ago was ousted from his legal team over her bizarre claims of a massive international plot involving the late Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez, China, Democrats and the Clintons to steal the election. Trump has floated an idea of embedding Powell as a special counsel inside the White House Counsel's Office to investigate claims of voter fraud. The current counsel's office has pushed hard against the idea, sources told CNN. "There's a high level of concern with anything involving Sidney Powell," one source close to the President told CNN's White House team. Another of Trump's conspiratorial fellow travelers, populist guru Steve Bannon, and the hawkish trade adviser Peter Navarro also have the President's ear, the sources told CNN. "I think we are seeing just how desperate Trump is becoming himself. And how desperate the last remaining rats on the ship, if you will, are becoming because of that," Lawrence Wilkerson, a former top aide to ex-Secretary of State Colin Powell, said Monday on CNN's "OutFront."
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Trump and his sycophants are reeking from desperation. Is Trump willing to take the whole country down with him? Probably.
And his supporters will probably cheer him on too.
Time is a big ass recording machine. Then there came video. The future question will be: Who plays Donald in the movie?
I'd say Alec Baldwin. He is pretty good at it, and who better to play an asshole than another asshole?
Just remember an actor's role is actually a portrayal.
And for some the portrayal ain't much of a stretch. Not a lot of "method" went in to that role is what I'm saying. The role of a conceited self-aggrandizing prick comes quite naturally to Mr. Baldwin.
Alec Baldwin plays a great comedic take on Trump, I don't think he'd be able to play Trump dramatically. I think Gary Busy would be a better pick to play the serious "conceited self-aggrandizing prick" that Trump is in the horror movie that would be a re-telling of Trumps four years in the white house.
A-ha. You said, "prick"!
It would seem from Trumps behavior and total lack of interest in what is happening in the US I'd say what ever it will take to keep him office, up to and including taking the US down with him.
Unfortunately, that's what we have to contend with.
While that sounds like a great idea to Trump and his rabid toadies who hope to cash in on his Dictatorship, it is something that is very unlikely to be allowed to happen.
Our Constitution is the law of the land, not Trump, no matter what he and his treasonist enabler wannabes want, or try to do.
Our Military is also not so stupid as to support such action either. And Trumps Proud Boys and treasonous militias are no match for our Military.
So much of what is being suggested in the bunker where Trump will hide until he is named Dictator for life and come out to a world of open arms.
While such may happen in other countries, this is America, and our law of the land is there to prevent just that kind of daydream by imbeciles and their treasonous supporters.
So it will be interesting to see how long Trump and his fellow imbeciles will last if they start that kind of action. And even if the Military does not step up to counter such action, the majority of the American people will.
America belongs to no one individual or political of religious group. I belongs to every American. And it always will.
A while back there were some polls of the military. Most of the enlisted men and women overwhelming supported Trump. But the majority of officers (especially the higher ranking ones) did not.
And of course what really counts is... the people who give the orders .
That may have changed in the following time period when Trump called all the men and women in uniform 'losers', and ridiculed those who had given their all as losers as well, even though he is the one who sent them to the places where they were considered as target practice by our enemies.
He is sure to pay a very high price in his after life. The Creator does not like 'losers' either.
Golfed with the warden and garrison commander at Leavenworth many times. Two of the nicest guys I've ever met.
You played at Trails West? When was the last time?
Haven't even been on post in 15 years or so. The job ended.
Dad was stationed there as the Airfield Commander in the '60's and that's where he taught me how to play.
Since he has passed, I go up there each year on his birthday and play a commemorative "match". He is buried there, along with my sister and Mom, so when I get to the sixth, I salute his gravesite and whack the ball on that long, long par 5.
Helluva course.
Any member of the military who supports a draft dodger as CIC are a disgrace to their uniforms. He has shown his disdane and disgust for the military time and time again. I would have them doing push ups until they puked.
I do remember reading some of those items.
Trump made it quite apparent his total lack of understanding of-- and even his total lack of respect for, those who served.
And this his comment about John McCain which was a horrendous put-down of one of the most honorable people who served.
(I don't have time now to look for articles about what happened when his plane was shot down, and what he did during his captivity-- but what he did was pretty amazing!
2 excellent Trump comments in that video:
Because I don't like losers!
LOL
The other line is not so funny... in fact, its an extremely nasty direct insult to John McCain...
It looks like Mark Meadows the white house chief of staff is at least in part siding with the nutjobs.
This is troubling. Not that we don't have enough trouble with these fools already.
It looks like he is, but it's not a surprise. He was picked as chief of staff not because of his competence, which is sorely lacking, but because of his credentials as a Congressional Trump loyalist.
Hopefully Biden will rid us of all the Trump toadies.
Chaos, damage and destruction. The hallmarks of Trump.
Does not matter a whit what he does in his ( Trump's ) waning days as president. His ultimate betrayal was at Helsinki and for this he is yet to pay. I wonder what they discussed.
Can treason be pardoned?
Helsinki was just part of his over-all acquiescence to Putin, although a significant part.
I believe that it can be. I don't see any impediment to it in the Constitution, where the President's pardon power is set forth.
If treason can be pardoned then The Constitution condones treason.
I wouldn't say that. The Constitution defines treason. The pardon power is basically unrestricted.
At the Constitutional Convention a motion by one of the delegates to limit the pardon power in cases of treason was defeated. I would have to research further to find out what the rationale was for that decision.
This is why a 'worthless' man or woman should not be allowed to have access to the power vested in the U.S. president. I am sure the founders did not plan as the nation matures, that more enlightened humanity would have lesser respect for character than they.
Donald Trump is the epitome of (White) privilege. And the so-called conservative "guardians" of freedoms are propping up a conscience-less, amoral, human-being. What does that say about them?
So you also believe that the Constitution condones every criminal act?
The founders most certainly did not envision a Trumpian creature degrading the office of the presidency.
Trump is indeed the epitome of white privilege. Those propping up such a conscience-less, amoral, disgusting piece of trash are no better, if not even worse, than he is.
Trumpp says he can pardon it, likeit was the Red Sea
Please quote Trump saying what you now claim he said.
GEEZZUUSS
Do you have a point?
or is that what you think Trump said?
And they aren't leaving on January 20.
I guess the moderates want us to appease them.
Perhaps you are confusing pardoning,and parting ( malapropisms to the contrary not withstanding!)
Or is there actually a difference??)
Well, Donald has held a mirror up to the republican and conservative parties and is repeatedly showing them just how corrupt and sinful they can be, all while proclaiming to do justice and to love mercy, and to walk humbly. What a mess!
The view from afar: I have said consistently that what he is doing either himself or through his mouthpieces such as Pompeo is throw as many roadblocks as possible in Biden's attempt to bring the USA back to normalcy. That will serve him both to maintain his sorry following, but set himself up for a rerun in 2024. And it is effective - just look at the comments posted on this site by his sheep. My biggest concern is that as we get closer to E.D. (eviction day) he is going to get even crazier, and may provoke China to such an extreme (as if he hasn't done enough already) to cause China to react in such a way that it could start a war. After all, his sheep are already calling China America's greatest enemy. Just what Biden needs, not only to have to bring the virus under control, but to try to handle a military war.
I can't imagine a military war between the U.S. and China. Whatever Trump has said or done, nothing has been an actual threat to China's national security that I can envision provoking a military conflict. China and the U.S. have some serious issues, but a military conflict is extremely unlikely. Taiwan would probably be the only source of a potential military conflict, however, I think China's threats against Taiwan, as provocative and dangerous as they are, are more bluster at this point than anything else.
There is a line in Dylan's song 'Like a Rolling Stone': "When you ain't got nothing, you got nothing to lose." Both countries have a LOT to lose, and they know it, and both countries having nuclear missiles and the ability to deliver them to very sensitive targets, is most likely going to be the biggest deterrant to a war, and in any event, in a non-nuclear war between China and the USA I cannot even imagine the possibiility of China winning it and I'm sure China knows it, so China will most likely continue to weather the Trump storm and hope that Biden will bring back a more cooperative, if competitive, relationaship between the USA and China, but Trump is doing and will continue to do whatever he can to make that difficult and I do fear he will do something insane.
I just reread your comment, and IMO if anyone is going to ignite a conflict with China it will be the USA. It is not China that is going back on its word and promises about Taiwan, it is the USA. Just check out the article linked here:
.
It seems that both China and the U.S. at times use harsh rhetoric-- but it seems obvious to me that neither side actually wants a shooting war.
(Of course one possible problem with that is that sometimes while neither side really wants a war-- as rhetoric heats up and tempers flares...sometimes accident happen
P,S. IMO There's a somewhat similar dynamic between Israel and Iran-- lots of harsh rhetoric, but both sides know that is they has a "real" war both sides would have much to lose...
I don't see a shooting war between China and the U.S. Both are well aware of the capabilities of the other. A recent paper by a military think tank said that a major engagement over Taiwan the US is not assured of a win and in fact could lose. The damage and losses to the US would be substantial.
The Chinese will win the trade war and that will lead China to be a real power worldwide, more so than they are now.
Exactly what I said - Here we go.
Biden: Trump aides setting 'roadblocks' for his transition team
.
On Donald's 'moving day,' it would be interesting to have a set of 'Lucy's (look-a-likes) on the lawn of the White House with that signage! TIME TO GO - NO LOAD!
(Re-post of a previous post):
This is what happens when a president with the maturity of a 10 year old is elected.. Lose the election, throw a tantrum and like the anti-American he is, try to fuck the country up on his way out the door.
That effing asshole spent the day pardoning his friends, including Charles Kushner, who is as deplorable as it gets. He then gets on a plane to spend his holiday in glitz and splendor...all the while knowing he is leaving millions hungry and impoverished.
We can't be rid of him too soon.
And still the 'shot' heard around the country is ignored and dismissed by some republicans and conservatives supporting this selfish Sinner who has abandoned the citizenry he swore to protect from harm. They simply won't hold Donald Trump accountable. Who knew some republicans and conservatives could be 'man-whipped' for their freedoms?!!
Well, the recorders of time are running and we have 'video' what else do we need?
REMEMBER GEORGIA!
Goebbels would be proud of the left.
McConnell doesn't have to do anything. Trump already said he would veto the next bill if Congress didn't remove the pork from it. AOC's stupid amendment to the bill (written by a moron- so what else do we expect) doesn't remove any of the pork. It just adds the $2000 per person that Trump wants.
McConnell and the Republicans can vote for the bill knowing that Trump will veto it as soon as it hits his desk; and then rightly blast the asinine Democrats for wasting time while US citizens suffer. He can double down on his call for a clean bill; it shouldn't take Democrats in the House that long to write one- less than a day if they truly care as much as they claim. Of course Nancy has to have her pork; so she will pout- run to her sycophants in the media and scream, "But Trruuuummmmppppp!!!!!"
Goebbels is the right-wing's inspiration. Trump patterns his entire political discourse based on the Goebbels' model.
Y'all crack me up with all this Nazi crap.
Can't anyone come up with something new?
Ass backwards, as usual.
So true. tRumpTurd also masturbates to Mein Kampf
Remember the last 5 years? Democrats, the media, and their lemmings questioning the legitimacy of Trump being POTUS? The "Not my president!" crowd; many of them on Newstalkers. The calls for impeachment by Democratic politicians before he even took office?
I am sure all of that didn't embolden our enemies abroad. Do I need a sarcasm tag? I better put one just in case./S
Also, could we get a few articles with named sources? Instead of ones that exist purely in the authors' heads. With comments given in who knows what context if they are real.
For example.
No names, no credibility. Just more fake read meat click bate for TDS sufferers.
[Deleted] are the ones who have no credibility.
That is the headline of the article, correct? Did anyone else go through the entire article and find any evidence that Trump made any such threat? Who here actually believes that the title of the article is in any way supported by the content, or that these irrational fears will actually play out? Go ahead raise your hand, don't be shy. Then let's reconvene in 30-days shall we?
Is this how "journalism" works now? Throw some shit out there and claim it is supported with wild speculations made by largely unnamed sources and by people who obviously despise the subject to whom they attribute a threat of such magnitude? I thought this was the kind of shit we hated about Trump and the right wing media pundits. "If you vote for Biden he is going to cast us into a Socialist Gulag, and force us to worship George Soros". How is this headline any better?
So what is the point of such a headline? Is it simply to get back at the right wing media and the conspiracy theorists by playing their game? Don't you feel that is a bit childish and ultimately unproductive? Biden has already won and everyone knows it including the Trump administration. The irrational fears of him using the SCOTUS he supposedly "stacked" to steal the election have been allayed. Why the continued hysteria and click bait bullshit?
Who is going to stand up and be the better person than the ones we continue to berate, malign, and treat as our enemies? Honestly, doesn't this shit ever get old?