Clown Car V: 2020 version!

[Sommerswerd]

Is there one of these in the, "I went to a Biden victory parade" flavour?

I haven't seen one. In most of the public, pro-Biden celebrations I saw after he won, most people were wearing masks... and at his rallies, people mostly stay inside their cars and/or wear masks... which is a stark contrast to Trump events were almost no one wears masks, so that may account for some of the difference, since the experts and doctors are all stressing mask wearing as a way to prevent the spread of Covid. The opponents of mask wearing seem to going more on feelings than on expert/medical opinions/advice, hence the cartoon.

I answered here, because I don't thing we're supposed to engage in discussions in the Political Cartoon Thread. I think we're just supposed to post images of political cartoons pretty much without comment.

 

[Broken_Erika]

Michael Flynn: Trump pardons ex-national security adviser

US President Donald Trump has pardoned his former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.

The president said the widely expected act of clemency was his "Great Honor".

Mr Flynn was among former aides to President Trump convicted during a justice department investigation into alleged Russian election interference.

He admitted in 2017 to lying to the FBI about contacts with Russia's envoy, then tried to withdraw his plea.

The White House said on Wednesday that the pardon would finally end "the relentless, partisan pursuit of an innocent man".

Its statement described Mr Flynn as "the victim of partisan government officials engaged in a co-ordinated attempt to subvert the election of 2016".

Mr Flynn responded by posting a tweet containing a US flag emoji and a Biblical verse, Jeremiah 1:19.

The verse says: "'They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you,' declares the Lord."

Mr Flynn's supporters see him as the victim of a political vendetta by the outgoing Obama administration to de-legitimise the incoming Trump administration with unsubstantiated claims of Russian collusion.

A 22-month justice department investigation concluded in 2019 there was no evidence to establish that Mr Trump or any of his associates had conspired with the Kremlin to win the 2016 election.

Earlier this year, Mr Trump commuted the sentence of Roger Stone, another ally who was charged in that special counsel inquiry.

Mr Stone was convicted of lying to Congress, obstruction and witness tampering, but the Republican president said he had been unfairly targeted in a witch hunt.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55080923https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55080923

 

[FriendlyFire]

They knew what they signed up for /s

Trump's staffers are reportedly now avoiding him to stay out of legal jeopardy
In a West Wing where advisers have often loitered near the Oval Office in the hopes of being asked inside, there has been noticeably less angling among aides to get an audience with the president in recent weeks, administration officials said. Aides have said privately they are concerned that the president might ask them for something that would draw them into the legal battle.

https://theweek.com/speedreads/9519...e-reportedly-now-avoiding-stay-legal-jeopardy

 

[El_Machinae]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55080923https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55080923

I recommend people watch the Legal Eagle on Flynn (it's one of my favorites!). The Flynn thing is an epic screw-up on Flynn's part ("the best people") followed by him being caught up in the wake of an aggressive investigation inspired by Trump's own behaviour. Flynn deserved to face the courts, but might be one of those people where the courts treated him too brutally as a hostage to get others to flip.

I wish Trump had used the pardon earlier, rather than corrupting the DOJ around this entire thing. A pardon is merely politically contentious, and it's even amazing that Trump is bothering to bail out someone who's been a liability for 4 years now. But a pardon is a legal tool that's been used like this before (and will be again). The corrupting of the DOJ set a new, deep, disgusting precedent.

 

[Takhisis]

But when would pardoning such an obvious criminal not have been corruption?

 

[Kyriakos]

I recommend people watch the Legal Eagle on Flynn (it's one of my favorites!). The Flynn thing is an epic screw-up on Flynn's part ("the best people") followed by him being caught up in the wake of an aggressive investigation inspired by Trump's own behaviour. Flynn deserved to face the courts, but might be one of those people where the courts treated him too brutally as a hostage to get others to flip.

I wish Trump had used the pardon earlier, rather than corrupting the DOJ around this entire thing. A pardon is merely politically contentious, and it's even amazing that Trump is bothering to bail out someone who's been a liability for 4 years now. But a pardon is a legal tool that's been used like this before (and will be again). The corrupting of the DOJ set a new, deep, disgusting precedent.

Isn't Flynn the one who worked as an agent for Turkey?
If so, it's not strange timing at all.
Not that Biden will nessessarily do much on that front, but he is set to allow the court to decide against the Halkbank Trump-Erdogan bribing scandal.

 

[klar_heiland]

Isn't Flynn the one who worked as an agent for Turkey?
If so, it's not strange timing at all.

Yeahh. Ist the time of year for presidents to pardon turkeys.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

The governor of Arizona bragged he had to put a special "hail to the chief" ringtone on his phone due to all the calls he got from Trump a few years back.

While signing Arizona's certification today on camera, the ringtone could be heard. He reached into his pocket, pulled out his phone, turned off the ringer and shook his head.

1) Badass move
2) Disgusting it was required
3) Trump called while he was signing? Seriously this is desperate on Trump's part

https://www.newsweek.com/arizona-go...nce-while-certifying-election-results-1551318

 

[Berzerker]

why the CIA loved Obama and hated Trump...marketing war

 

[Birdjaguar]

why the CIA loved Obama and hated Trump...marketing war

If you actually read the document bandied about on right wing websites, nothing they say is accurate. I have read the document. The CIA conducted a poll in 2009 in France and Germany to see if they could find ways to generate more support in those countries for the war in Afghanistan. Here is what the poll results indicated about Obama:

The confidence of the French and German publics in President Obama’s ability to handle foreign affairs in general and Afghanistan in particular suggest that they would be receptive to his direct affirmation of their importance to the ISAF mission—and sensitive to direct expressions of disappointment in allies who do not help:

• According to a GMF poll conducted in June 2009, about 90 percent of French and German respondents were confident in the President’s ability to handle foreign policies. The same poll revealed that 82 percent of French and 74 percent of German respondents were confident in the President’s ability to stabilize Afghanistan, although the subsequent wait for the US surge strategy may have eroded some of this confidence.
• The same poll also found that, when respondents were reminded that President Obama himself had asked for increased deployments to Afghanistan, their support for granting this request increased dramatically, from 4 to 15 percent among French respondents and from 7 to 13 percent among Germans. The total percentages may be small but they suggest significant sensitivity to disappointing a president seen as broadly in sync with European concerns. (C//NF)

They found that Obama could be an influence of public opinion in France and Germany. He was liked and trusted in those countries. Most of the document is about other stuff.

Document

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

"Guys! I heard on youtube ... "

Key riced

 

[Samson]

Trump attorney issues call for violence against truth-telling former election cybersecurity official

An attorney for the Trump campaign on Monday issued a call for violence against Chris Krebs, a former cybersecurity official who was unceremoniously ousted from his post by President Donald Trump after he rejected the President's unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud.
Joe diGenova, an attorney for Trump's campaign, said during an appearance on "The Howie Carr Show": "Anybody who thinks the election went well, like that idiot Krebs who used to be the head of cybersecurity. That guy is a class A moron. He should be drawn and quartered. Taken out at dawn and shot."
A source familiar with Trump's election challenges said diGenova is believed to still be helping Rudy Giuliani, Trump's attorney, in challenging the presidential election results.​

Ethiopia has gone from a constitutional debate about an election to ethnic cleansing in a month or 2, and now lawyers on one side is calling for election official to be shot.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Trump has pushed through a rule change which takes affect the day before inauguration that reclassifies tens of thousands of career civil servants as political appointees that can be fired at will.

His last act as President (besides pardoning himself) will be to gut the entire federal government right when we need it most to coordinate vaccine logistics.

If he goes through with this, I believe he will secure the spot of worst president of all time. Sure, he didn't start a Civil War, but Buchanan doesn't get full blame for that either and I don't think he wanted a war. Here, Trump is actively going to sacrifice more lives out of nothing but spite.


-----

Trump is believed to have pulled in $150m in donations to fight the election results with no insight into where that money is going. It seems he is tearing apart democracy itself to pull off one last grift as POTUS. I can't see Buchanan, Nixon or even Johnson doing this; it would boggle the mind if it wasn't par for the course for Trump.

And 74 million people voted for this!

 

[IglooDame]

Trump has pushed through a rule change which takes affect the day before inauguration that reclassifies tens of thousands of career civil servants as political appointees that can be fired at will.

His last act as President (besides pardoning himself) will be to gut the entire federal government right when we need it most to coordinate vaccine logistics.

If he goes through with this, I believe he will secure the spot of worst president of all time. Sure, he didn't start a Civil War, but Buchanan doesn't get full blame for that either and I don't think he wanted a war. Here, Trump is actively going to sacrifice more lives out of nothing but spite.


-----

Trump is believed to have pulled in $150m in donations to fight the election results with no insight into where that money is going. It seems he is tearing apart democracy itself to pull off one last grift as POTUS. I can't see Buchanan, Nixon or even Johnson doing this; it would boggle the mind if it wasn't par for the course for Trump.

And 74 million people voted for this!

My own prediction is that he won't fire everyone, just a list developed along the way of anyone that has at any time ever expressed any negative thoughts about Trump. I think originally he pushed the reclassification through on the theory that he could take nepotism and favoritism to the wholesale level and casually purge any anti-Trump people from the ranks at the same time. Since he won't be able to control hiring once he's departed, he just has the firing side left to him.

That said, my predictive model of answering in the affirmative to any "that's really a stretch even for him" indicates that literally canning the entire civil service organization in a stroke is probably going to happen, barring judicial intervention.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Trump is running a scam. Plain, simple and incredibly obvious. It has already been reported that the donations go straight into trump's pocket. But, Trump has convinced his acolytes not to trust anything any media besides sycophant trump media reports. So, when journalists report this money is going into Trump's pockets, the acolytes go: #fakenews, we're protecting America with those donations, they will be used to Stop the Steal.

Now, my question is: should I feel bad for those people? And the answer is: of course I should. These people are not the same people you encounter on forums and comment sections. These are hard working Americans who have been duped by someone who they trust. They really have been led down a prepared path just for this from way before the election. Those posting about far fetched conspiracy theories fail to see the one played out blatantly before their eyes. Obvious signs this was a setup are:

- Fraud was claimed way before the election (The only way I can lose ...)
- The scenario oneJ raised an eyebrow at, was predicted by many, so obviously also in the Trump Campaign Team.
- They made sure it would play out that way by going out of their way to hamper the mail in vote tally, and limiting voting options in democratic counties
- On cue, Trump claims victory as the Trump Campaign team figures the tide will be turning.
- Trump Campaign team claims to have overwhelming evidence since day 1, but offer huge rewards for those stepping forward with evidence.
- By now 30 something cases have been laughed out of court, but for the acolytes that only is evidence even courts are corrupt. They've become so invested in the scam, that it's near impossible to change their minds by now because of the Big Lie. So now they have to decide: it's all a huge conspiracy, or it has all been a huge lie. Both options are hard to stomach, but only one would mean they have been supporting a huge scam by the feller they have been idolizing.

I really do feel for those people. And I have no idea how to break that bubble of disinformation that keeps them hooked on Trump.

 

[Samson]

Giuliani is said to have discussed a possible pardon with Trump.
NYT scrolling news Grundiad

Rudolph W. Giuliani, President Trump’s lawyer who has led the most extensive efforts to damage his client’s political rivals and undermine the election results, discussed with the president as recently as last week the possibility of receiving a pre-emptive pardon before Mr. Trump leaves office, according to two people told of the discussion.
Such a broad pardon pre-empting any charge or conviction is highly unusual but does have precedent. George Washington pardoned plotters of the Whiskey Rebellion, shielding them from treason prosecutions. In the most famous example, Gerald R. Ford pardoned Richard M. Nixon for all of his actions as president. Jimmy Carter pardoned thousands of American men who illegally avoided the draft for the Vietnam War.
​

 

[Lexicus]

I don't think there's any basis whatsoever for viewing the people who voted for him the second time as innocent victims of Trump's grift. They are active participants.

 

[Samson]

I don't think there's any basis whatsoever for viewing the people who voted for him the second time as innocent victims of Trump's grift. They are active participants.

Voted for him is one thing, paying into his legal challenges is another ([EDIT] and worse) thing.

 

[Lexicus]

The people paying into his legal defenses know exactly what they're doing. We're long past the stage where we should be infantilizing these people. I know I've said it many times, but these people are the real problem. Trump is the symptom.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

I don't think there's any basis whatsoever for viewing the people who voted for him the second time as innocent victims of Trump's grift. They are active participants.

They are guilty of believing a manufactured 'truth' which was designed to resonate with those people.

The people paying into his legal defenses know exactly what they're doing. We're long past the stage where we should be infantilizing these people. I know I've said it many times, but these people are the real problem. Trump is the symptom.

I'm not too sure about that. I believe a substantial portion of those people are being scammed.

I'm also sure there's a portion of them who simply cannot stand Trump losing and will cheer every trick in the book to dislodge the results, but those can't account for raising 150+ million. Those people will spread missinformation on forums, or go on the street to shout their displeasure. And are simply put deplorable.

We have the advantage of not living in a controlled media environment. I don't think you can approach this with a "what would I do" attitude. Mind, this is mostly gutfeeling and speculation, based on sparse moments like interviews with Trump supporters, who seem genuine enough, as I roll my eyes thinking: they cannot actually seriously believe this. But that's the effect of a carefully guarded information bubble. And also mind, I'm not infantilizing these people. I'm empathizing with them. I do not believe the majority of those people are aware of Trump's shenanigans.

What I feel is the real problem is the news network strategy of inflating a Republican vs Democrat narrative during a 24 hour news cycle without 24 hours of news to go around. Which of course started with Fox News, and has gradually slid more and more to the ludicrous side. You can trace the looniness right back to that. When Fox called Arizona, that was betrayal, when Tucker Carlson challenged Powell that was betrayal. When Laura Ingram tried to break the news to their viewers they may have to come to grips with a Biden win, she had to cover that message in layers of accolades and gentle let downs (link)

If you feel people are the problem, there's also a case to be made. We, yes we, are too quick to judge and that is partially to blame on the amount of information we have to process on a daily basis. We do have to make snap decisions on what we believe to be fact and false, and not everyone visits forums regularly and knows or even is aware of the importance of fact checking. These people are just these people. And the fact these people are more represented on the right wing is that there's a lot more invested into right wing media.

So yeah, as I said, it's the impression I get. And the impression is that there are a lot of Trump supporters who actually genuinely believe Trump lost unfairly. I also think that Trump is very aware of this and plays exactly into that. Trump is not only a symptom, he and his family also know how to market and create impressions. They've been doing that their entire life.