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NYT: Even for This President, It Was a Remarkable Week of Attacks on American Institutions

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NYT: Even for This President, It Was a Remarkable Week of Attacks on American Institutions
  • Nov. 9, 2018
WASHINGTON — In the three days after the Democrats captured the House, President Trump fired his attorney general and replaced him with a loyalist critical of both the courts and the Russia investigation. He banned a CNN correspondent from the White House, while threatening he would do the same to other journalists. And he accused election officials in Florida and Arizona of rigging the vote against candidates he had campaigned for.


It was a remarkable assault on the nation’s institutions, even by a president who has gleefully taken a hammer to the press, to judges and prosecutors he does not like, and to an electoral process he has denounced as fraudulent since the day he took office.
...
While each of his actions rattled Washington, Mr. Trump’s appointment of Matthew G. Whitaker as the acting attorney general, replacing the ousted Jeff Sessions, raised the thorniest ethical and legal questions, according to lawyers and former Justice Department officials.

Mr. Whitaker’s radical legal views; public disparagement of the Russia investigation, which he now oversees; connections to a Florida company shut down after fraud allegations; and lack of Senate confirmation each make him a dubious choice to be the nation’s chief law enforcement officer.
...
Even Mr. Trump seemed to recognize the problematic nature of the appointment. On Friday, he told reporters he did not know Mr. Whitaker, the opposite of what he said on a Fox program only a month earlier, and he emphasized that Mr. Whitaker was serving on an acting basis.




My comment:

“Before mass leaders seize the power to fit reality to their lies, their propaganda is marked by its extreme contempt for facts as such, for in their opinion fact depends entirely on the power of man who can fabricate it.” ― Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism
 
Meanwhile, the TIMES published an article by Krugman questioning the structure of the Senate.
 
NYT: Even for This President, It Was a Remarkable Week of Attacks on American Institutions





My comment:

“Before mass leaders seize the power to fit reality to their lies, their propaganda is marked by its extreme contempt for facts as such, for in their opinion fact depends entirely on the power of man who can fabricate it.” ― Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism

That quote accurately describes the NYT and, indeed, the entire multimedia echo chamber very well.

Thank you.
 
Your point being what exactly?

The TIMES article spoke about assaults on the American system from Trump. Just pointing out the paper employs a writer who has done the same.
 
Meanwhile, the TIMES published an article by Krugman questioning the structure of the Senate.

So what? Some private citizen ranting about the evils of our constitutionally defined government structure has no parallel to the POTUS installing 'friends' in positions of power w/o Senate confirmation as required by that constitution. Sessions has been a failure and needed to be replaced but not by someone lacking Senate confirmation. The oddest part of this fiasco, IMHO, is that now that Sessions is gone he is being praised by those opposing him having the AG job in the first place.
 
The TIMES article spoke about assaults on the American system from Trump. Just pointing out the paper employs a writer who has done the same.

How so? Be specific? What did Krugman say that was false?
 
NYT: Even for This President, It Was a Remarkable Week of Attacks on American Institutions





My comment:

“Before mass leaders seize the power to fit reality to their lies, their propaganda is marked by its extreme contempt for facts as such, for in their opinion fact depends entirely on the power of man who can fabricate it.” ― Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism

The AG serves at the pleasure of the president. Nothing at all more to say here.

Jim Acosta is a rude jerk incapable of doing his job which is to report.

He starts his remarks, not a question, by saying, "...I want to challenge you..."

WTF is that all about? This amateurish and childish jerk got less than he deserves.

https://thenorthsignal.wordpress.co...d-calm-response-to-hysteria-put-down-the-mic/
 
The oddest part of this fiasco, IMHO, is that now that Sessions is gone he has being praised by those opposing him having the AG job in the first place.
That's how reasonable adults play the game. We don't go too far in the political partisanship, because it's destructive, childish, and ultimately leads to far more problems than it solves.

Feeling compassion for Jeff Sessions, as he gave Trump the finger on recusal as was his duty to himself, his oath, and to America, was an act of good, in a sea of the Trump swamp. That he rode that out, taking Trump's insults day after day for "doing good", from the worst President in our history...yes, this endears him in a human way, to some of us.

Of course we disagree with Sessions on a wide variety of things, but he's not off the deep-end like the con-artist in chief. Compared to Trump, sessions is a saint. You see the threads asking people "what would it take to stop being negative on Trump!?!", as if they don't know. We have no problem being nice to Sessions as he's ousted by the baby in the office, we have no issue being decent to Bush the flake, now that he's out of office, etc. Just being decent comes naturally to some.
 
So what? Some private citizen ranting about the evils of our constitutionally defined government structure has no parallel to the POTUS installing 'friends' in positions of power w/o Senate confirmation as required by that constitution. Sessions has been a failure and needed to be replaced but not by someone lacking Senate confirmation. The oddest part of this fiasco, IMHO, is that now that Sessions is gone he is being praised by those opposing him having the AG job in the first place.

The law allows for Whittaker to be acting AG for a max of 210 days.
 
That's how reasonable adults play the game. We don't go too far in the political partisanship, because it's destructive, childish, and ultimately leads to far more problems than it solves.

Feeling compassion for Jeff Sessions, as he gave Trump the finger on recusal as was his duty to himself, his oath, and to America, was an act of good, in a sea of the Trump swamp. That he rode that out, taking Trump's insults day after day for "doing good", from the worst President in our history...yes, this endears him in a human way, to some of us.

Of course we disagree with Sessions on a wide variety of things, but he's not off the deep-end like the con-artist in chief. Compared to Trump, sessions is a saint. You see the threads asking people "what would it take to stop being negative on Trump!?!", as if they don't know. We have no problem being nice to Sessions as he's ousted by the baby in the office, we have no issue being decent to Bush the flake, now that he's out of office, etc. Just being decent comes naturally to some.

How quickly you forget the demorats reaction to the Sessions or Kavanaugh appointments.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/02/08/us/politics/jeff-sessions-confirmation-vote.html
 
How so? Be specific? What did Krugman say that was false?

It wasnt the point of my note. It was as the TIMES is concerned about assaults on the American political structure, it should also review its own editorial pages.
 
You're comparing Ford's credible testimony against a SCOTUS nominee, in the hearing for the SCOTUS nominee, to Trump's term in office and all that he's done? Yeah, you don't seem to get it yet.

Nope, I am showing you the reality of partisanship during Senate confirmation votes. What was the 'credible testimony' against confirming Sessions as AG?
 
Nope, I am showing you the reality of partisanship during Senate confirmation votes. What was the 'credible testimony' against confirming Sessions as AG?

Lol, you posted that link after the Kavanaugh comment, I assumed it was the link to Kavanaugh.

So Democrats voted against Sessions confirmation? Boy, if we could only get Trump to simply vote in opposition to Democrats and stop doing all the other bull****, all of this would be solved.
Sessions was opposed for racist views, it's not like people would love to vote him back in if they had a choice of someone without that baggage.

Many of us see his standing up to Trump, and his enduring Trump's childish bullying and insults to the world...as commendable, and worthy of a bit of compassion. Did you see Sessions leaving the White House with the crowd? He looked emotional, human.
You know, like it meant something to him serving but was ousted by a childish bully to try and save his own bacon from investigation.

Trump appointed Sessions AG< but then blames Sessions for doing the right thing as AG. That's typical Trump, he's the worst kind of leader...blames everyone else for HIS choices.

Enemy of my enemy is Jeff Sessions, whatcha gonna do.
 
Lol, you posted that link after the Kavanaugh comment, I assumed it was the link to Kavanaugh.

So Democrats voted against Sessions confirmation? Boy, if we could only get Trump to simply vote in opposition to Democrats and stop doing all the other bull****, all of this would be solved.
Sessions was opposed for racist views, it's not like people would love to vote him back in if they had a choice of someone without that baggage.

Many of us see his standing up to Trump, and his enduring Trump's childish bullying and insults to the world...as commendable, and worthy of a bit of compassion. Did you see Sessions leaving the White House with the crowd? He looked emotional, human.
You know, like it meant something to him serving but was ousted by a childish bully to try and save his own bacon from investigation.

Trump appointed Sessions AG< but then blames Sessions for doing the right thing as AG. That's typical Trump, he's the worst kind of leader...blames everyone else for HIS choices.

Enemy of my enemy is Jeff Sessions, whatcha gonna do.

Sessions (the alleged racist?) is now being praised by many of those same demorats - did his 'racist views' suddenly disappear? I doubt that Sessions views have anything to do with it - it's just another excuse to bash Trump. Trump was said to be wrong to appoint Sessions and wrong to terminate him by many of the same anti-Trump partisans.
 
That is still no reason not to place him (or someone else) up for Senate confirmation ASAP.

Sonebody will be nominated soon. I mean, its been 4 days for pete's sake.
 
Somebody will be nominated soon. I mean, its been 4 days for pete's sake.

I hope so. It is not as if Sessions 'resignation' was not expected for much longer than 4 days, for Pete's sake.
 
It wasnt the point of my note. It was as the TIMES is concerned about assaults on the American political structure, it should also review its own editorial pages.

But you have not yet pointed out what was so wrong about the Krugman opinion piece that would cause such action.
 
You're comparing Ford's credible testimony against a SCOTUS nominee, in the hearing for the SCOTUS nominee, to Trump's term in office and all that he's done? Yeah, you don't seem to get it yet.

No, it's not! people stop allowing these shysters to spread this lie! NOTHING SHE SAID WAS CREDIBLE, EVERY PIECE OF HER TESTIMONY THAT IS PROVABLE WAS DISPROVEN and much of it was perjury!
 
The AG serves at the pleasure of the president. Nothing at all more to say here.

Jim Acosta is a rude jerk incapable of doing his job which is to report.

He starts his remarks, not a question, by saying, "...I want to challenge you..."

WTF is that all about? This amateurish and childish jerk got less than he deserves.

https://thenorthsignal.wordpress.co...d-calm-response-to-hysteria-put-down-the-mic/

Trump fired Sessions, which is in his authority. He installed a lacky who headed a company that is currently under FBI investigation -- a criminal investigation of a Florida company accused of scamming millions from customers. Now, Whitaker heads the AG Office, who the FBI works for. That's part of the corruption portion of this outrage. The other part is that while Trump has the right to appoint a new AG, he can't do it for a corrupt purpose. The corrupt purpose is that the reason Whitaker was appointed is because he is viewed by Trump as someone who will run interference -- and maybe disband the Mueller investigation.

The unconstitutional portion is that any AG replacement must receive Senate confirmation. He can't appoint an acting AG that never had Senate confirmation.

Of course, Trump's zombie followers have no problem with either the unconstitutional or corrupt nature of this appointment. As I said, “Before mass leaders seize the power to fit reality to their lies, their propaganda is marked by its extreme contempt for facts as such, for in their opinion fact depends entirely on the power of man who can fabricate it.”
― Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism
 
The next in line was Rosenstein. So why was he jumped over?
Because he couldn't be trusted -- he's intent upon following the rule of law.
 
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