It’s the art of the deal. “Never take anything off the table”. Trump likes to tout his power and authority for leverage and ambiguity in deal making. His actions prove otherwise in this instance. He has operated according to federalist principles: supporting the states in their efforts, providing funds and assets where needed.

He said he has total authority, though. He is very deluded.

Just a couple of days ago he was saying the exact opposite, that he doesn't, because of the constitution. It's all just bullshit. He doesn't know what he's saying or what he means. He's just a child.

That’s certainly debatable.

Of course he has to act within accordance of the constitution. If he didn't he's be removed from office. But precedence has power over any document. It's about what people will accept. And the Donald is making an effort to get us to accept things we shouldn't.

It’s the art of the deal. “Never take anything off the table”. Trump likes to tout his power and authority for leverage and ambiguity in deal making. — NOS4A2

It’s the Art of The Con, and you appear to have bought it hook, line, and sinker.

It is chilling to know that the president has powers not even congress knows about. Trump could be referring to those. Let’s hope we do not see them during this crisis.

Presidential emergency action documents emerged during the Eisenhower administration as a set of plans to provide for continuity of government after a Soviet nuclear attack. Over time, they were expanded to include proposed responses to other types of emergencies. As described in one declassified government memorandum, they are designed “to implement extraordinary presidential authority in response to extraordinary situations.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/10/opinion/trump-coronavirus-emergency-powers.html

I’m pretty sure you’ve used that one before.

Of course he has to act within accordance of the constitution. If he didn't he's be removed from office. — neonspectraltoast

That's naive. The Republicans in the Senate would turn a blind eye just as they've already done.

It is chilling to know that the president has powers not even congress knows about. Trump could be referring to those. Let’s hope we do not see them during this crisis. — NOS4A2

This doesn't make any sense. The President has whatever powers the Constitution and the laws allow, and there are no secret laws or secret parts of the Constitution. The Eisenhower administration can't have just made up new powers.

Oh, he would be removed. And so would they. If by force if necessary.

I was just relaying the article. Are there such powers? I don’t know.

More from the article:

The past few weeks have given Americans a crash course in the powers that federal, state and local governments wield during emergencies. We’ve seen businesses closed down, citizens quarantined and travel restricted. When President Trump declared emergencies on March 13 under both the Stafford Act and the National Emergencies Act, he boasted, “I have the right to do a lot of things that people don’t even know about.”

The president is right. Some of the most potent emergency powers at his disposal are likely ones we can’t know about, because they are not contained in any publicly available laws. Instead, they are set forth in classified documents known as “presidential emergency action documents.”

These documents consist of draft proclamations, executive orders and proposals for legislation that can be quickly deployed to assert broad presidential authority in a range of worst-case scenarios. They are one of the government’s best-kept secrets. No presidential emergency action document has ever been released or even leaked. And it appears that none has ever been invoked.

Speaking of con jobs, did you see the campaign ad that he aired during a coronavirus briefing the other day?



When a reporter pointedly asked who made the ad, Trump replied that it was made by a few people in his administration, apparently oblivious to the fact that it’s illegal to use public resources for campaign purposes.

Yeah, it was awesome. It’s a lazy stretch to say it was a campaign ad. Government propaganda? Perhaps.

These documents consist of draft proclamations, executive orders and proposals for legislation that can be quickly deployed to assert broad presidential authority in a range of worst-case scenarios.

The government can plan any executive orders it likes but they'd be invalid unless "authorized by the Constitution or laws of the United States"¹

And having proposals for legislation that Congress doesn't know about doesn't mean anything. They'd have to be put forward to Congress and voted on for them to apply and at that point they'd be powers that Congress knows about and have granted.

¹ Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, 343 U.S. 579 (1952)

Campaign ad, propaganda... potato, potato.

I don’t know if that’s the case or not without seeing the classified documents.

Again, a lazy stretch.

Its all my fault. I should never have invented Twitter. Really people should just ignore the man. Instead a gigantic proportion of the USA population have taken to emulating his insults etc thinking its funny. Or they are even more insane and take him seriously. He just tries to aggravate people on purpose and make fights so he drowns out everything else. I got so fed up with people playing partisan politics instead of pulling together in the face of a global health crisis, I am just taking myself offline entirely. I deleted my websterver, and social media accounts first. Next I am closing down all my site registrations. No one has had a sane conversation with me here since Trump got in. Im closing this account next. At least the democrats made a failed impeachment to stop him starting a nuclear war, turns out it was not necessary, but it was a good gesture.

Good bye.

From the December report that concluded the FBI was justified in its investigation. So it's neither news nor important.

From the December report that concluded the FBI was justified in its investigation. So it's neither news nor important.

It was just declassified. And it shows the FBI knew Steele was perhaps dealing in Russian disinformation, which I suspect you believed. So yes it is news, and yes it is important.

No, it isn't because the person asked to investigate it already concluded that they were justified in their investigation and he had that information. So it doesn't change a thing and isn't news. The FBI was made aware so they were aware (and probably took that into account in their assessment) but the Steele dossier wasn't the only lead. George Papadopoulos opened his mouth first in March 2016. The Steele dossier is from June 2016 and later.

So yeah, as usual you fail to see the forest for the trees.

Horowitz has no power of subpoena, so based on what they told him, sure that is the case. Durham, who does have the power and who is by now deep into the investigation, disagreed. So once again you’re setting yourself up for failure.

When a reporter pointedly asked who made the ad, Trump replied that it was made by a few people in his administration, apparently oblivious to the fact that it’s illegal to use public resources for campaign purposes. — praxis

Trump has always been oblivious to a lot of things. Like that the FBI has as one of it's core missions to keep a watch on the actions of hostile foreign intelligence services in US. Who could have known?

I voted for the Leopards Eating People's Faces party because that's what the founders would have wanted. The current leopard is a highly successful face-eater. People are just jealous of his spots.

Several weeks later:

I never thought that leopards would eat MY face!!!!

For some laughs

He has operated according to federalist principles: supporting the states in their efforts, providing funds and assets where needed. — NOS4A2

Trump claims that he has absolute authority over Governors. How is that consistent with federalist principles?

Federalism does not serve us well in this pandemic. Consider the ventilator problem: if each state is on its own, this creates two problems: 1) the states compete with each other for a scarce resource, ensuring winners and losers, and driving up the price.2) each state has to manage for its own peak needs. Add together 50 peak requirements is bound to be considerably higher than the national peak, because the peaks will not be concurrent.

It’s the art of the deal. “Never take anything off the table”. Trump likes to tout his power and authority for leverage and ambiguity in deal making. His actions prove otherwise in this instance. He has operated according to federalist principles: supporting the states in their efforts, providing funds and assets where needed.

Federalism does not serve us well in this pandemic. Consider the ventilator problem: if each state is on its own, this creates two problems: 1) the states compete with each other for a scarce resource, ensuring winners and losers, and driving up the price.2) each state has to manage for its own peak needs. Add together 50 peak requirements is bound to be considerably higher than the national peak, because the peaks will not be concurrent.

I think you’re probably right on that. A federalist government does not serve us well in this pandemic. All the more reason why we should not depend on the federal government and expect more from our state governments.

Well I had to think about it, but it seems obvious now, the WORST consequence of Trump has been granting the moral permission to be rude about other people all the time.

Apparently most people havent noticed, that unless people are asking for money, virtually all people do online is insult others these days, except one minor exception: publicity media fan groups and party political groups, in which, unless one totally agrees with everything presented, one gets banned. Either one is not allowed to argue at all or no one is interested unless you're rude.

It used not to be like this. People used to be able to talk kindly to each other even when they disagreed. It just seems not to be possible any more. Just about anywhere about anything, including here. The most annoying thing is, even people who dont like Trump are behaving just like him too, so its difficult for a rational person to do anything.

Well that was my final thought. I have respiratory health problems, quite alot of pain, and probably will not be around much longer. My family are delighted. They call to find out if I am dead yet so they can get my estate, so now I have to hire an attorney to protect myself from my family too. I was thinking of shortening the process by suicide but thankfully it appears covid19 will do that for me. Apparenlly alot of people have real probllems accepting death is a natural part of life. I thought forums like this were meant to help with that kind of thing, but they've just become about bashing other people. t. Hope you all have a very nice day.

You should try and moderate the information (especially from social media) that you are consuming. Many threads on this site are filled with exchanges of ridicule, and I'm sure facebook and twitter users are presently brimming with mutual and righteous indignation as well.

Sit around digesting this stuff all day and you're going to become stressed. If it is calm interaction you're after, find or create an intentionally quiet corner, and ask for reciprocity when and where necessary.(the tone of your own posts can easily determine the nature of responses).

This is one of the most stressful periods in human history in terms of absolute numbers. Never before have so many molecules of cortisol flowed through the veins of this many great apes. Obviously this is going to go to our heads; before deciding one's self rational, it's perhaps relevant to consider how experimental and fragile our rationality is in the first place.

I'm sorry to hear about your present state of depression though. I wish you a nice day as well...