Friday T-rump STUPID Roundup

After campaigning as the champion of the working class, Donald Trump has carefully organized an enclave of only the rich to advise him. "...disclosures showed that Trump’s top aides have generated millions of dollars from Wall Street, Hollywood, real estate and the media, holding a slew of investments that intensify the administration’s challenge in navigating potential intersections between officials’ personal finances and their policymaking roles." It all adds up to $2.3 billion. Being the Democratic Socialist I am, can you imagine breaking that up among the U.S. homeless?

Donald John's head of the Federal Communications Commission wants to halt small and rural Internet providers from offering subsidized broadband connections to low-income Americans nationwide. The reason given has to do with a Reagan era act called Lifeline, that provided subsidies for seniors, veterans and rural Americans that is more state run than federal. "Opponents of the decision said the move will limit struggling Americans' ability to choose a good provider, particularly in rural or low-income areas." Anyway you cut it, they're telling business what they can do.

The Daily Beast makes the statement that Jared Kushner is perhaps the only Donald Trump adviser that cannot be fired. Even if he starts WW III? And with the stupidity that surrounds this clan, and the fact that Kushner appears to be circumventing State department power, with absolutely no experience in foreign policy, I personally think it's possible. This all comes from the fact that former adviser, Roger Stone, claimed to host Alex Jones that Trump’s own son-in-law Jared Kushner was leaking information to MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough. Want to reconsider DJ?

What does Donald Trump do when his top adviser resorts to juvenile behavior, and it is with his second top adviser? But wait, there's another factor here; number one is his son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Number two is Steve Bannon, the trusted white nationalist aide who Trump has placed a lot of trust in for advice. But now Bannon has been removed from the National Security Table, as Ivanks joins her husband in complaining about Stevo's ideologies and their negative effects on daddy's issues. Like Stan Freberg said: High School Ooh Ooh.

ISIS just described Donald Trump in Arabic terms as an "idiot," which is close enough to stupid to be included in this post. And there is a reason for this they use, saying he doesn't know anything about Islam. I doubt seriously if he is well versed on the faith, but this would explain his stupidity for banning entry to the U.S. of some predominantly Muslim nations by lumping all Islamists into one group of terrorists. "Trump has pledged to 'totally obliterate ISIS,'" according to a piece in NBC News. This bit of strategy no doubt compliments of Steve Bannon.

And finally, John Oliver, host of the HBO political talk-show Last Week Tonight, has dubbed Donald Trump's Russian connection as "Stupid Watergate." Oliver says it is, “a potential scandal with all of the intrigue of Watergate except everyone involved is really bad at everything.” If Donald John is really trying to cover up something, he's doing a worse job than Richard Nixon. Devin Nunes, is out, Mike Conaway is in, wearing a Trump "Make America Great Again" cap. Odds are he could be worse than Nunes but there's no doubt who he favors from the get go.

Did Nunes quash all of Comey's work?

Devin Nunes---Whatta I do now?

Could the White House be on the verge of an investigation that could lead to a Donald Trump resignation or impeachment? Either is OK, of course. FBI director James B. Comey both confirms an open-ended investigation for Trump's ties to Russia, plus refuting the president’s claim of illegal surveillance by his predecessor. Got him with both barrels...right between the eyes, and Donald John knows it. Here's the Guardian's assessment...

"The first open hearing into Donald Trump’s alleged Russia connections on Monday ensured that the US president will operate under a cloud of suspicion until either the various inquiries deliver credible public conclusions or Trump leaves office, whichever comes first."

 Comey states there is no way this will be a quickie, rather, an on-going examination of all the facts that surround Trump's long-term association with Russia, and what, if any, effect it had on the 2016 election. It would appear the collection of evidence justifies the inquiry, and the serious attention it has been given by the intelligence community. The next date for a public hearing is March 28, with the ex-director of national intelligence James Clapper and the ex-CIA director John Brennan. Both these men had a part in the January analysis of Russian interference in 2016 to benefit Trump.

This is for sure the most defined advance on Donald John in the "Russians for Trump" PAC in the 2016 elections. But with the staying-power this current effort has, plus the number of Republicans that also believe there is substance to the investigation, in all likelihood we are moving toward an outcome that is not going to be acceptable to the reigning sovereign. Comey has affirmed that he is looking at any ""collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign," according to CNN, including...

"...any links between individuals associated with the Trump campaign and the Russian government and whether there was any coordination between the campaign and Russia's efforts."

Republicans have repeatedly tried to push the investigation off track by laying the blame on Michael Flynn but here's a real crowd stopper...

"Comey testified that US intelligence agencies were agreed that Russia's aim evolved into an effort during the election to aid Trump over Clinton."

We should remember at this point that the FBI Director is the one who threw Hillary Clinton under the bus in the 2016 election with his letters to Congress re. her email investigation in the last eleven days before voters went to the polls. Further, "They wanted to hurt our democracy, hurt her, help him. I think all three we were confident in at least as early as December," Comey said.

And he tried to put to rest once again Trump's ludicrous charges of Barack Obama's wiretapping Trump Tower during the election stating, "...the Justice Department, along with the FBI, had no information to support the allegations." Adding the fact that "...no president could order a wiretapping operation against a specific American citizen."

So, enter Devin Nunes, House Intelligence Committee Chairman, who is accused today of turning the Trump's Russian connection into another Benghazi...the equivalent of Trey Gowdy. God help us! "Most of the lawmakers on the Intelligence Committee, previously known for its leave-your-party-at-the-door work, had held out hope there could be an independent, bipartisan probe into Russian interference in the U.S. elections," the Daily Beast reports. And here's their assessment of the latest...

"That hope died when their chairman went to the White House, and then the press, to discuss intelligence intercepts involving the 'incidental' collection of communications related to Donald Trump and members of his transition team before telling his own committee about the matter."

Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the panel said...

“What was today? It was the chairman of the committee helping the president create the next distraction,” added Democratic Rep. Mike Quigley, a member of the committee. “It was an attempt to be a distraction, sow confusion, create false narratives despite the evidence.”

Apparently, Schiff feels now that he can't even receive assurance from Nunes that this can continue as a credible investigation. But Nunes, as a House member investigating Trump and his White House staff must have just come stupid running to the Oval Office, then the media, instead of incorporating the newly found information into the investigation. As DB put it...

"He doesn’t use it as part of the committee’s investigation, but runs to the White House, which is a subject of the investigations.”

Or was Nunes' committee just a smokescreen from the beginning, set up to serve as a future link to the President, giving him fodder for dispute. It should be obvious by now there is not one Republican on the planet that I would trust. With that in mind, where do we go from here?  

Trump cronies getting restless-Looking for blood?

Are the good ole boys of Congress finally tiring of Donald Trump's incessant tweeting, making claims that he cannot back up, and putting the American government in the position of having to explain why we have a lunatic running the country? It would seem so when the Washington Post publishes a headline like this...

"Republicans are threatening to expose Trump as the emperor with no clothes"

Here's a part of the accompanying Washington Post story...

"...a spokesman for House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) threatened to subpoena the Trump administration to produce evidence of Trump's claim that President Barack Obama wiretapped Trump Tower during the campaign. The White House has declined to produce this evidence publicly, offering various excuses, including the Constitution's separation of powers and — most recently on Monday — arguing that Trump wasn't speaking literally when he made the claim."

 And there's a downside to all this Twitter activity anyway. Apparently Donald John's aides have been deleting select tweets, which could be illegal, according to Reps. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) and Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), chairman and ranking member of the House Oversight Committee. They have sent a letter to Trump re. the "...administration’s record keeping habits and its nontransparent use of social media and other forms of electronic communication." This numb nuts thinks the office he holds means that he can do what he pleases, when he pleases.

Huff Post reports that, “The need for data security, however, does not justify circumventing requirements established by federal recordkeeping and transparency laws." It would appear that the confusion and chaos of this administration has finally reached the point that those high in government feel the free-wheeling has got to stop, or at least slow down. You can see Chaffetz and Cummings letter to the White House Counsel on the above HP site above. Speaker Paul Ryan has admitted that he does not believe the claim that there were wiretaps.

In addition to the letter from the two representatives, Devin Nunes had required the Justice Department to submit evidence to him of Trump's claim that President Barack Obama wiretapped Trump Tower during the campaign by this past Monday. When he didn't get it he indicated he might resort to a subpoena if it wasn't received by the committee's March 20 hearing. Now we can remember Congress threatening several actions against Barack Obama when he was in office, but it was the opposite party. In this case, it is all Republicans, supposedly Trump's party

Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), who chairs the subcommittee looking into the wiretapping...

"...asked the Justice Department and the FBI to provide copies of any warrants or court orders related to the alleged wiretapping. Having not received anything, Graham said he may push for a special committee."

While all the GOP members who are supposed to be on his side continue to question the bizarre behavior of the White House wacko, loudmouth keeps right on tweeting away.