Trump Thread

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Well, the new Communications Director seems like he's going to fit right in.....


Anthony Scaramucci Called Me to Unload About White House Leakers, Reince Priebus, and Steve Bannon



The whole article is worth a look. The guy sounds like mini-Trump.

Trump's leadership style demands key subordinates who will take this role. Mind you, it won't work for running the country, but at least the Don will have the cadre he needs around him to function as is his wont.

[Montmorency]

There have been many pieces and first-hand accounts written on the extent and firmness of LGBT integration in the contemporary US military - you may find some easily enough - but here I'll post an account from the days of the original desegregation (technically earlier, in WW2).

I would caution you not to get too caught up in this passage's "feel-good", picturesque qualities; with that mental preparation, it serves as a reflection on the military's potential as a vehicle of social change.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Kathleen M. Scott:
You enrolled and said, "I will only come in as a commissioned officer."

Martha Putney:
And I had them put it down on my 201 file. So when I finished basic training, the first class that opened up, okay? That's how it was done. That's why I went to administration school.

Kathleen M. Scott:
Oh, okay.

Martha Putney:
The first class that opened up, I was called.

Kathleen M. Scott:
Okay, sorry about that. You were housed in a hotel in Des Moines.

Martha Putney:
Yeah, and they had shuttles back and forth, and we always came back and forth to do the various things we wanted to do.

Kathleen M. Scott:
Did you have any trouble in the community in Des Moines?

Martha Putney:
No, the black community -- churches invited us in, and there weren't too many blacks in the Midwest. And, of course, so far as socialization was concerned there were very few males; they were all in the Army. And, so, it was a lonely life for most of us -- a lonely life for most of us. Incidentally, by order of the commanding officer at Ft. Des Moines, none of the places of amusement -- entertainment, were to be segregated. None. So, legally, we could eat anyplace we wanted to. Iowa did not have a segregation law. We had -- I didn't have it, but while I was there, there was a problem with one restaurant owner who didn't want to serve blacks, who made them wait, and the Colonel put him off [laughs] put him off duty. No blacks could enter that place. None of us. And he found out what was happening, he opened up, and we can go there now. There were frequent shuttles back and forth to the post so that we went back and forth to movie, to the PX, you know, things like that.

I was lucky again, I escaped KP at administration school. In fact, I never did KP but a lot of people around me in basic training did it, and they complained. Everyone complained. They didn't complain too much about the other chores, like mopping, putting lye on the floors, picking up trash, cleaning latrines -- they didn't complain too much about that, but they complained about KP. And especially those who worked in the kitchen, that cleaned those great big vats, you could hear them come home, come back to the barracks, crying about what they did. And so I was lucky I didn't do KP in the Army. [laughs]

Let's go back to OCS, I got there in the middle of the day. Time for me to unpack my things, put it in my footlocker, get everything straightened out, and then, of course, eat the meals that we were supposed to eat -- we went, but the first day we went on our own to the mess hall. There were about five of us in the class -- 100 or so. Got to bed early because I knew OCS was going to be more hectic than basic training. I knew that, so I got to bed early. People came in from all the parts of the country, staggered. My roommate came, my bunkmate, upper bunkmate, came in the middle of the night. The Charge of Quarters, that's the non-commissioned officer in charge of each barracks, I brought her down by flashlight and showed her where she's supposed to sleep.

She grumbled about being assigned an upper bunk. Then at daybreak she woke up, greeted the person to her left, the person to her right, in a southern drawl and looked down, I imagine, intending to greet me. When she saw me I got everything distasteful, rude, disrespectful that any person shouldn't have gotten. The N-word was used three or four times, "Get out of here," was used five or six times. "Damn" used before the N-word. The whole barracks on the first floor was listening to it. Nobody said anything, just listening to it. And the CQ came out, gave the order, "At ease." "At ease" in the Army -- you say nothing, get quiet. Well she got quiet.

She got down off her bunk and gave me a mean look. If the look she gave me could kill me I would have been dead. And she went on into the shower -- took a shower. I waited until she got out and I went in, and came out, and lined up for mess, went to march to mess -- we happened to be in the same platoon because we're in the same barracks. It was alphabetically integrated. Her name, incidentally, was --last name was S -- started with S, and my last name started with S, so we were -- okay? I couldn't eat. I knew I had to go through the line, so I went through the line, came on back, walked around the huge parade ground. The parade ground was the circumference on which Officer's Rowand OCS like this -- Officer's Row on this side; OCS on that side. I finally decided I had to get back to get ready for my first day.

I went back in, the other people in the first floor of the barracks came up to me and said how sorry they were -- not every one of them was sorry. I knew there were southern among those in the barracks, but they didn't even come out and tell her anything. They didn't tell her to shut up or stop; they didn't do anything. Her harangue was maybe 8 minutes before that CQ came out there because we were asleep, you know. I guess it was about 4 o'clock in the morning that she woke up.

[...]

I knew if I had said anything I would have been the one. I knew that, so I said nothing, absolutely nothing. She -- same thing happened when noon mess -- she still gave me nasty looks. When we got finished mess in the evening I felt like I didn't want to go back in that barracks until she was out of the way. I don't know how she was going to be out of the way -- I felt like that. But it was a whole different atmosphere, that they had talked to her, and they had told her she goes -- she straightens up or she goes. And told her to apologize to me, and do it in public since she yelled at me in public. So here she was sitting on her bunk -- sitting on her footlocker, waiting to make an apology. That's what she was doing. And used the word, "You kids," because she found out there were other blacks in there. "I didn't know they let you kids in here with us." This is an apology. And then she ended with the phrase something like this: "If my mother knew that I was sleeping with you people," that's what she said, "She'd want me to come home." All of this was supposed to be an apology. [laughs] So I looked at her. Incidentally, other people in the barracks were hearing her make this apology, and they didn't think it was an apology either. So I looked at her, and told -- in a voice that only she could hear, "I suggest that you do what your mother would want you to do to feel comfortable." She looked at me, said nothing, got out of bed.

The next morning I went to mess; she went to mess too, and I indicated, I wasn't in a hurry to get back to my bunk. I got back just in time to get ready. So I came back in, my bed was made, my shoes were in line, my pajamas were hung, everything was straight. I assumed she was doing it, but I didn't know. The same thing happened the next morning, and when Saturday morning came, I came back in, she's coming down the hall with a bucket and a mop, and I stood aside and let her mop the whole area, clean it, and I said to her, "Your mother should see you now!" [laughs] That's the first time she smiled. That's the first time she smiled, when I told her -- see her working for me, you see. [laughter] That's right. That's what I told her.

[...]

Commissioning Day, she left on my bunk two sets of bars, and a note. And I got the thing -- got the notation at home now, "To a fine gal," gal, "From a reconstructed southerner." I never met her again, but some of the people in the barracks said that she really has changed because she gave me -- she threw everything at me she could throw at me except for fists, but she learned that she couldn't do it, and that one incident gave me to understand that the Army could have done a lot if it just wanted to. Because those officers told her she goes if she didn't apologize -- didn't straighten up. But we know, we should know, at that time, I don't know about now, the Army was bred to southern traditions, and it wasn't about to change during that period, but it could have done a lot and lived up to the reasons why we were fighting that war. We were supposed to be the arsenal of democracy; we put out those four freedoms, and they were supposed to be our goals, and it could have lived up to that if it wanted to, if it broke with the southern traditions. And no one is asking anyone to love us, you know, just accept us as fellow human beings.

[Husar]

Trump's leadership style demands key subordinates who will take this role. Mind you, it won't work for running the country, but at least the Don will have the cadre he needs around him to function as is his wont.

"Leadership style" sounds way too sophisticated for his bumbling along. How about we call it his boss style?

[Xiahou]

Trump's leadership style demands key subordinates who will take this role. Mind you, it won't work for running the country, but at least the Don will have the cadre he needs around him to function as is his wont.

So long as you don't steal any of Trump's spotlight. Bannon never had the same influence after he got on the cover of Time.

It's kind of a bizarre catch22 really. If you're not aggressive (and obsequious) enough in your defense of Trump, he'll marginalize you. But, if you draw too much attention to yourself, he'll marginalize you.

[Xiahou]

And just like that, Reince Priebus is out. I think everyone knew he was on the outs, but I was expecting Sessions would be pushed out first....

He's named retired Marine general and current Homeland Security Secretary, John Kelly as his new Chief of Staff. This seems like an odd choice to me. Especially considering that now he has to push a new Homeland Security nominee thru the senate.

[Hooahguy]

I wonder if congressional Republicans are going to push back on the DHS nominee, since Priebus was supposedly made chief of staff to placate the mainstream GOP.

Also it seems like Trump purposely put a military guy into the position, since he wants unwavering loyalty ("dont question the Commander in Chief" type of thinking), a yes-man essentially. Priebus probably wouldnt be that, so he was ditched.

[drone]

I wonder if congressional Republicans are going to push back on the DHS nominee, since Priebus was supposedly made chief of staff to placate the mainstream GOP.

As I stated in the Sessions thread, this might be the wakeup call to the GOP Congress, Trump is not a Republican and doesn't care for the party any farther than it will protect him. They have already stated that they will not be confirming a new AG, the Senate at the least is getting fed up with him.

Also it seems like Trump purposely put a military guy into the position, since he wants unwavering loyalty ("dont question the Commander in Chief" type of thinking), a yes-man essentially. Priebus probably wouldnt be that, so he was ditched.

Priebus -blocked Scaramucci from taking the role at the start of the administration (straight from his mouth), so it's no surprise Reince got the boot as soon as Mooch got Trump's favor.

[Husar]

I'm sure everybody was waiting for this from our favourite performance artist.

You can thank me later...

[HopAlongBunny]

Skinny repeal dies from lack of support; possibly saves millions of lives!
Most successful health-care bill ever?

https://wonkette.com/620891/lets-enj...re-poor-people

[CrossLOPER]

I'm sure everybody was waiting for this from our favourite performance artist.

You can thank me later...

At first I thought this was a joke, but then I finally noticed infowars banner.

Husar, what did I say about giving warnings? I don't want videos from delusional nutjobs on my recommendations list. It is very finely tailored for my specific tastes, which includes moe videos of anime girls, and grown men doing let's plays. Don't screw up my only joy in my sad pathetic life.

[Montmorency]

And just like that, Reince Priebus is out. I think everyone knew he was on the outs, but I was expecting Sessions would be pushed out first....

He's named retired Marine general and current Homeland Security Secretary, John Kelly as his new Chief of Staff. This seems like an odd choice to me. Especially considering that now he has to push a new Homeland Security nominee thru the senate.

I guess our tabloids do have some value.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[spmetla]

The line at the bottom of the cover is gold!