USA Politics

President Trump has pardoned former Maricopa sheriff Joe Arpaio.

So I have bumped into this a lot. I have flat out called Trump since his campaign a racist (for calling ALL Mexicans rapists and drug dealers), a sexist (for a number of denigrating comments about women, the most famous of which was the "grab them by the...") and an elitist that will NOT drain the swamp, but the exact opposite.

There have been way too many people that tell me, "well he isn't exactly a racist (or sexist or elitist) just because he said 'x' " Um... Actually that's EXACTLY what it means he is. But it seems words are not enough for this group of people (not all of them Trump supporters mind you) to see Trump for what he is.

Certainly his actions are! Muslim ban? "Oh that's not racist." Surrounding himself of White supremacists, close family and other billionaires for White House staff? Oh that's not racist OR elitist. Taking 2 full days to denounce white supremacy in the U.S when he usually tweets about "muslim terror" within 2 minutes? That was just bad timing!

Now this. The pardoning of someone technically convicted of racism.... And I bet you they will continue to make excuses. I feel like I'm in the fucking Twilight Zone. So sickening.
 
Harvey is Category 4 now, and some of the more dramatic meteorologists cited say it could become a "Super-Katrina".
 
In other news, Sebastian Gorka got fired. Glad I don't have to see his repulsive face anymore, but for how long can this go on until the orange centre of this whole problem is eliminated?
 
So I have bumped into this a lot. I have flat out called Trump since his campaign a racist (for calling ALL Mexicans rapists and drug dealers), a sexist (for a number of denigrating comments about women, the most famous of which was the "grab them by the...") and an elitist that will NOT drain the swamp, but the exact opposite.

There have been way too many people that tell me, "well he isn't exactly a racist (or sexist or elitist) just because he said 'x' " Um... Actually that's EXACTLY what it means he is. But it seems words are not enough for this group of people (not all of them Trump supporters mind you) to see Trump for what he is.

Certainly his actions are! Muslim ban? "Oh that's not racist." Surrounding himself of White supremacists, close family and other billionaires for White House staff? Oh that's not racist OR elitist. Taking 2 full days to denounce white supremacy in the U.S when he usually tweets about "muslim terror" within 2 minutes? That was just bad timing!

Now this. The pardoning of someone technically convicted of racism.... And I bet you they will continue to make excuses. I feel like I'm in the fucking Twilight Zone. So sickening.
With Trump it's more of a case that he doesn't want to denounce anyone or anything that might cause him to lose votes. He had a lot of voters among those white supremacists. I don't think he even cares about the illegal immigrants or building a wall and stuff.
 
Btw, on Trump pardoning Arpaio: I thought pardoning people was something a President normally does at the end of his term? When Trump pardons Arpaio, an outspoken supporter of his, even before Arpaio has done any jail time, it borders on corruption.

It goes beyond the question of how controversial the case is. I guess for the Average Joe, Obama pardoning Bradley/Chelsea Manning was a bigger deal because it was such a high-profile case, involving leaking of state secrets. Arpaio is a smaller fish, so to say. But when Trump pardons him now, he is saying "Support me and you'll get away with anything, including crime". That's a complete lack of integrity.
 
Technically, the President can pardon anyone whenever he wants. But yes, I would argue that this is one of those pardons that doesn't really have a purpose other than to pay back a supporter/appease his base.
 
I know that he can pardon anyone at any time, but it is hardly common, is it? Are there other prominent examples of a president pardoning someone early in his term?
 
Pardons are what you do when you don't need to worry about political capital. Arizona might be the most important senate race next year and Trump basically wrote an attack ad for the Democrat candidate(s).
 
The other thing that amazes me is, both national and international press, keep saying "oh THIS will get him impeached for sure!" Then something else happens and they say, "Oh, NOW this will get him impeached for sure!" Then something ELSE happens and they say, "Oh for fucks sake! THIS will DEFINITELY get him impeached for sure!" And he's still there.

I thought it was a matter of when not if he would get impeached... I'm not so sure anymore.
 
I think everyone's now waiting for the outcome of Mueller's investigation. If it concludes that Trump personally was involved (or knew about) something even more damning than the already discussed meeting Donald Jr. had, I believe it will happen.

I also think many Republican members of Congress worry about their seat in the 2018 election. They don't know for sure if distancing themselves from Trump will alienate their voter base or not. Thus an initiative to impeachment is a risk.
 
Here's the thing. Nixon did ONE bad thing. Make illegal recordings of rivals. I have lost count of the inappropriate, border-line illegal, flat out illegal and just being a plain old idiotic things Trump's said on twitter. In other words, the U.S has impeached for less.
 
I'm aware of it, and I agree, but I think the political climate is more polarized now, so that Trump would almost have to do something that qualifies for many years in prison if impeachment is to succeed. And Trump himself has of course contributed to that climate - on purpose. That's why it sounds so hollow when he speaks about how divided the country is, as if he thinks that's a bad thing ...
 
From: http://english.chosun.com/m/svc/article.html?contid=2017082901321
Seoul Drafting New Plan for Full-Fledged War with N.Korea
By Yu Yong-weon | August 29, 2017 12:26

The Defense Ministry is drafting a new plan to thwart a full-fledged North Korean military offensive and occupy Pyongyang within weeks without waiting for U.S. troop reinforcements.

The ministry on Monday briefed President Moon Jae-in on its key objectives and vowed to formulate an "aggressive wartime action plan led by our military."

Cheong Wa Dae quoted Moon as saying, "Push for reform of the military structure to meet the requirements of modern warfare so that it can quickly switch to an offensive posture in case North Korea stages a provocation that crosses the line or attacks the capital region."

He also urged ministry officials "to further improve the military's mobility, landing abilities and air defense capabilities."

A military source said the gist of the plan is "the mobilization of airborne troops and Marines to infiltrate Pyongyang to quickly bring down the North Korean regime."

Vice Defense Minister Suh Choo-suk told reporters, "In the event of an invasion from the North, we will engage in an aggressive, deep-offensive operation" inside North Korea.

The ultimate aim is to keep any war as brief as possible.

The present South Korea-U.S. military plan, dubbed OPLAN 5015, envisages U.S. aircraft carriers, fighter planes and Marines responding swiftly to a North Korean attack before massive U.S. troop reinforcements arrive, which could take months.

It also includes preemptive strikes against North Korean nuclear weapons and missile bases as well as operations to assassinate high-ranking North Korean officials.

But even that means it will take considerable time before South Korean mechanized divisions can arrive in Pyongyang.

The new South Korean plan aims to patch the weaknesses of the joint plan.

It will apparently identify more than 1,000 North Korean targets for missiles and precision-guided weapons and envisage deploying airborne troops and Marines to Pyongyang to bring the North Korean regime down rapidly.

The ministry also briefed Moon on attempts to clean up defense acquisition.

"If North Korea is focusing on nuclear and missile development, which are asymmetric capabilities, instead of conventional weapons, then we too must have asymmetric countermeasures," Moon said.

He noted that South Korea's GDP is 45 times larger than that of North Korea, so Seoul's defense capabilities should easily overwhelm those of North Korea. But he asked if the military is in fact able to do that, and chided top brass for spending massive amounts of money on weapons while still being reliant on U.S. troops.
Also, see this thread for more updates.
 
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