45th President of the United States, Donald Trump. (Vol 4)

[Dal3D]

Time for popcorn!

[frankenstein12]

Bill said:

frankenstein12 said:

I love him with a passion so reasoning and context go out the window.

EFA.

Why would he be sitting down for the photo if he stood up initially?

How the hell would I know? As said none of us was there. Whatever did happen the optics look bad and he should have stood to shake their hands regardless if it was simply the photo op and they had already had a meet and greet.

[Seventy]

So who do you reckon wrote the medical letter?
'I don't know' won't cut it.

[andy_s]

f12's right in a way - [hits head] - things can be taken out of context when you have a certain viewpoint, it's really not beyond the realms of possibility that they all were glad-handing each other when they entered whereupon the Philosopher King took his throne for the oblig photo op.

Rather like the comments by the [quite scruffy] doctor that let his credibility and reputation get thrown under the bus by putting his name to paper he [quite obviously] didn't write; to my mind he's adding a bit of Tabasco into the paella unnecessarily by the jazzing up of the incident. All imo of course.

If it were Putin sitting there he'd be cleverer and start anti-Putin nonsense himself that is easily disproved so discrediting anyone else that writes anything bad about him. It's a neat trick you have to be careful not to get suckered into... (Well, Putin would just have them throw themselves off a balcony, but you get what I mean)

#fakenews #falseflag

[Byker28i]

frankenstein12 said:

Eric Mc said:

frankenstein12 said:

The man sounds like he has massive sour grapes.

And why would he have "massive sour grapes"?

Because it sounds like he was proud of the fact he was Trumps doctor and from that article it sounds like there was a belief he had been speaking about Trumps medical history to people who he shouldn’t have been hence why the records were suddenly removed and maybe he was hoping to cash in somehow and having Trumps records removed has stopped him being able to do so.

Who knows.

I am not saying he is lying or telling the truth just pointing out we have no real evidence either way to corroborate his claims or Trumps/White house.

The doctor hasn't a HIPAA release form, although I'm sure one could be backdated and provided as evidence should it be required

Sarah Saunders said it happened, don't you think it strange that the trhee people who went to 'ask' for the records were Keith Schiller, Trump's former longtime personal bodyguard, Trump Organization chief legal officer Alan Garten and a third "large man". So two large men and a lawyer... quite intimidating wouldn't you think for such an innocent request?

As I said earlier, the actual question to ask isn't that it happens (Saunders said it did and it was normal practice) but rather why's the doctor speaking now? Did Trump had an NDA over him that was in Cohens raided docs and he wanted to get in first, especially after he spoke about trumps hair loss medication (the raid was a couple of days later).

We're told from white house sources they took all trumps records because the doctor couldn't work his copier. The doctor is supposed to keep all records for 6 years,,,

[Byker28i]

Michael Caputo has had a rant at Senate Intelligence Committee saying he's running up huge legal bills, more than $125,000 already and also claiming he knows nothing.

Seems a lot to spend if you're innocent?
http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/385775-ex-trump...

Meanwhile Cohens woes get further increased with claims he represent clients in crash for cash claims
http://thehill.com/homenews/news/385798-cohen-repr...

[andy_s]

Byker28i said:

The doctor hasn't a HIPAA release form, although I'm sure one could be backdated and provided as evidence should it be required

Sarah Saunders said it happened, don't you think it strange that the trhee people who went to 'ask' for the records were Keith Schiller, Trump's former longtime personal bodyguard, Trump Organization chief legal officer Alan Garten and a third "large man". So two large men and a lawyer... quite intimidating wouldn't you think for such an innocent request?

As I said earlier, the actual question to ask isn't that it happens (Saunders said it did and it was normal practice) but rather why's the doctor speaking now? Did Trump had an NDA over him that was in Cohens raided docs and he wanted to get in first, especially after he spoke about trumps hair loss medication (the raid was a couple of days later).

We're told from white house sources they took all trumps records because the doctor couldn't work his copier. The doctor is supposed to keep all records for 6 years,,,

^ Ah, the doc smells less fishy now I have to say...

[Byker28i]

Trump has said he's immune to any emoluments prosecution because he's president
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/385792-...

[Bill]

frankenstein12 said:

Snip.... and he should have stood to shake their hands regardless if it was simply the photo op and they had already had a meet and greet.

We agree. What was the point of posting to say it was fine then?

[Byker28i]

coyft said:

Isn’t this the same Dr that breached patient confidentiality by telling the press what medication Trump was taking?

The story is about a “raid” rather than him breaching a fundamental rule of medicine.

As it was 3 days later I would say that was the catalyst wouldn't you? As for what rules were broken, it depends on what the doctor was allowed to say by Trump about his physical. HIPAA also allows doctors to share health information of their patients with others—the media for example—when it has been requested by the patient. Now if the doctor has just signed off on a faked medical and Trump and his lawyers had told him to talk to the media and confirm this...

The problem is that we don’t know whether Trump asked for any omissions, which is critical when assessing whether Bornstein violated HIPAA when he revealed that Trump takes hair-loss medicine.

If Trump had previously instructed Bornstein to, at any time, share any and all medical information he felt necessary to paint a picture of his fitness to serve as president, the physician would be in the clear. Having written the glowing report Team trump probably thought the doctor would stick to the report, especially if he had one of Cohens $20m NDA's hanging over him.

Unless Bornstein was explicitly instructed not to reveal his patient’s hair-loss-prevention strategy, he could legally and reasonably presume that his patient had an “opportunity to object” to such a disclosure and chose not to.

Now if Bornstein had an NDA, then with Cohen struggling with the Stormy Daniels issue, now would be a good time to test the waters?
I can't think of any other reason why the doctor would take so long to say anything, which makes you wonder, just how many NDA's will be found in Cohens office?

Hows this infrastructure week going do you think? Once again seems a little sidetracked?

Edited by Byker28i on Wednesday 2nd May 16:24

[schmunk]

If nothing else is agreed in this thread, please could we stop using the word "optics" when we mean "appearance".

[DMN]

Trump has bribed Ukraine with anti-tank missles. They are no longer co-operating with Mueller:

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/05/trump...

[Eric Mc]

schmunk said:

If nothing else is agreed in this thread, please could we stop using the word "optics" when we mean "appearance".

I certainly didn't need any optics to read your post.

[schmunk]

Eric Mc said:

I certainly didn't need any optics to read your post.

Mine's a double, thanks.

[anonymous-user]

schmunk said:

If nothing else is agreed in this thread, please could we stop using the word "optics" when we mean "appearance".

Agreed.

What a stupid, lame management phrase.

[ScudNorth]

Ty Cobb, the mustachioed lawyer, just quit Trump's legal team. He'll be replaced by Bill Clinton's impeachment lawyer Emmet T. Flood.

[p1stonhead]

Notwithstanding how funny the turnover is, Trump must be pulling his fking hair out right now and it can’t be good for actually getting anything done for the American people can it. Even if he wanted to do anything (he doesn’t) he probably can’t.

[Halb]

schmunk said:

Eric Mc said:

I certainly didn't need any optics to read your post.

Mine's a double, thanks.

[Eric Mc]

ScudNorth said:

Ty Cobb, the mustachioed lawyer, just quit Trump's legal team. He'll be replaced by Bill Clinton's impeachment lawyer Emmet T. Flood.

I'd never trust a lawyer with a name like that. It reminds me of this legal expert -

Waldorf T. Flywheel

[Tartan Pixie]

Countdown said:

The man's a fking moron.

Full post under spoiler

Tartan Pixie said:

Catching up the thread so sorry it's from a few a days ago. (I used to think the euro thread moved fast but hey ho)

The bolded bit is where I question you. I think Trump has been highly consistent on a number of issues, one of which is that American tax payers should not be paying for the world police.

And yet he's attacked Syria twice and he's threatened KJU with "Fire & Furry" and only yesterday he said "Iran are going to have problems, BIGLY problems" if they try to restart their nuclear reactor. OTOH he does seem reluctant to impose sanctions on Russia.

The reason for the inconsistency (I think) is apparent and based on his narcissism. he craves adulation from his Breitbart base and hates doing anything to upset them. (let's face it, who else is going to buy MAGA hats and chant his name in stadiums?) But the grown-ups in the White House are explaining to him the long term consequences to the US if he abrogates their position as "Leader of the Free World". So he HAS to do something, even though it costs him support at home. It's that tension which causes the inconsistencies.

Tartan Pixie said:

Yes he is surrounded by bluster and lies but look at the world we are in, have we really been reduced to the point where we distrust a leader because their competence in demagoguery is not sufficient to leave the wool comfortably across our eyes?

I think you're suggesting that "all Leaders lie, he's just not very good at it". IMO it's a lot worse than that. Not only does he lie, he lies constantly and he lies about the most pathetic, childish, irrelevant things. It's one thing for the President to lie, but when he lies about the size of the crowd at his inauguration, there is clearly an underlying mental/psychological issue which shouldnt be present in the President of the United States. More wooryingly, this mental/psychological issue is clearly present when he's tweeting stuff about Syria, North Korea, Iran, and the FBI.

Tartan Pixie said:

Trump isn't an endgame but a stepping stone.
Western foreign policy is a long way behind the curve.

Sic transit gloria mundi. However let's not willingly sit by whilst this happens, or accept it as a fait accompli, or even say that the alternatives are "just as bad".

The man's a fking moron. He's managed to get where he is as a result of a deep cancer in US society. We can either stand back and let America die a slow and tortuous death or we can try to help it heal itself by pointing out how stupid Trump is.

No disagreements from me there

As an example of why Trump might be a blessing in disguise, do you know what we haven't been hearing about in the news much? Armenia. A country near Russia's border is going through a pro democracy revolution and for once are able to do it peacefully without the Americans stirring things up. When was the last time you heard of that happening?

You say Trump's "attacked Syria twice and he's threatened KJU" but the Syria strikes were token gestures meanwhile the Americans have prevented a Trukish invasion In Manbij and the north east while deconflicting and defusing tensions between the SDF and the government. It is the exact opposite of warmongering, hence I say Trump is not a warmonger and that is a very good thing.

Trump's consistency is again on show in Korea. Yes he said some stupid things but it's the same as Syria, he sees America paying for someone else's security and wants it to stop. I'm not saying his reasoning is complex or nuanced but it is consistent. There's a danger particularly in Syria of America withdrawing too fast and causing a power vacuum. He's also been consistently terrible at making deals so is likely to give away strong geopolitical positions without getting anything in return.

Iran could yet be a flashpoint but on the whole I am not concerned about American warmongering and it's been a very long time since I've been able to say that, so while we are in agreement that he's a moron I still contend that his presidency has so far been positive from a foreign policy perspective.