The Trump transition continues to be an embarrassing mess. Today, Trump is holding his first meeting with a foreign leader since being elected. And he’s going into it completely unprepared. The Washington Post reports:
The 5 p.m. session with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Trump’s first with a foreign leader since the election, has raised questions among some in Washington’s foreign policy community because Trump has apparently not been briefed by the State Department. Officials said Wednesday that the transition team has not reached out to State.
A former State Department official said such a meeting with a foreign leader would normally be preceded by numerous briefings from key diplomats, which is considered especially important here because the Japanese are concerned about comments Trump made on the campaign trail. …
“The world does not stop for the transition,’’ said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to speak freely. Trump “would want an intelligence briefing. You’d probably want to get briefed on what’s what happening in the region.’’
Face it, Trump transition team: You’re mired!
This. He sure isn’t acting like a person who thought he might win.
Off Topic, but Pence is a fucking hypocrite with zero integrity
“No you see, your honor, when Hillary does, it it’s bad. When I do it, it’s good!”
China schools Trump about climate change:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-11-16/china-tells-trump-that-climate-change-is-no-hoax-it-invented
@Moocow:
For the next four years, Mike Pence being a scumbag is never going to be off topic.
@Policy of Madness:
I cannot believe Trump said that climate change is a hoax invented by the Chinese, that is beyond stupidity. I imagine most of the world leaders are wondering how they can manage this dangerous and useless idiot.
Another clip (skip to 2:37):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5cQFB3aZcc
@Alan,
I would love to do that, but Wikipedia takes a dim view and I don’t know how to mask my IP address.
If anyone is interested, Jezebel is going to be tracking hate crimes on a weekly basis. The first one came out today.
http://jezebel.com/tracking-racist-incidents-and-hate-crimes-in-donald-tru-1789058519
I think the most disturbing thing is that two of them were teachers threatening students of color with deportation. What the fucking fuck!?
Anyway, they will be accepting reader submissions so if you witness or experience an incident let them know.
… angels and ministers of grace…. defend us….
Back in June or so, John Oliver offered The Cheeto some advice, noting that the only two possible outcomes of his campaign were, he would lose, or he would win. Both of those outcomes, said Oliver, “turn out very bad for you.”
Unfortunately, one of those outcomes turns out very bad for everyone else, too.
@ WWTH
notice the “V for Vendetta” Guy Fawkes mask… cool!
II just cant imagine any official of any state taking him seriously. I mean, if a non-politician recognizes he’s completely incompetent, someone schooled and trained for that kind of thing should recognize it even more, so I’m not sure how much damage he can do just by talking….. Then again, I’m probably being too optimistic
Vassal state of Russia, every country hates us or going to hate us when Trump says another dumb as fuck thing, and pence and co are salivating to destroy 200 years of progress
The Aristocrats.
How fucking humiliating. And I wish the shame I feel as an American passport holder was the worst outcome of the election. I thought Boris Johnson was going to be bad. Fuuuuuck. What a colossal cluster fuck.
On that note, Oogly…everyone…let’s not let this sort of thing distract us from what the real masterminds of the regime are doing. I’ve had this idea that Pence, Bannon, et al are using Trump as an attention-grabbing buffoon so no cameras are on them while they carry out their hideous agenda.
@Karalora
Seconded 100000000%
Although to underestimate DJT’s intelligence and cunning is also a mistake. GWB affected the dunce to a large degree and people were less inclined to treat him as a serious threat (I remember the 2000 campaign…)
@Karalora
This a million times. Also if this is going to be dejavu; requiem, we’re going to be in another war to distract the working class.
I feel a special sense of sad when I consider the US collapsing into civil war somehow doesn’t seem that ridiculous in current times.
Sorry for double post.
@EJ
Him and a whole basket of deplorables*. And part of me wishes he was the most irrelevant human being because of exactly what @Karalora said.
*Oh. The fact that Trump and his ilk have the fucking audacity to be offended by the term ‘deporable’ after the shit they spew, it makes my blood boil. It’s like some kid on the playground who spends all of recess harassing a kid and once that kid says “fuck off”, suddenly they go and tells the teacher about this horribly mean kid who told him to fuck off.
A bit more info on my comment yesterday, re Russian interference in the US election. I resisted this for a while, ’cause it just seemed too conspiracy-ish. Hm.
@Holytape, I can just imagine some poor translator having to edit Abe to avoid a giant international incident.
“Konichiwa, bakayaro!”
“Um, er, President Abe says ‘Hello, I am very glad to meet you.'”
(Bakayaro=roughly the Japanese equivalent of blockhead, dumbass etc.)
“Trump loves the LGBT community!”
No he doesn’t. This also makes me think Repellicans were waiting for a president like this. So much for “Let the states decide.”
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/11/16/the-gop-s-anti-lgbt-anti-women-religious-freedom-law-on-steroids.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+thedailybeast%2Farticles+%28The+Daily+Beast+-+Latest+Articles%29
Ugh. I’m really angry right now.
http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/racist-flyers-turn-up-in-richmond-mailboxes
For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Metro Vancouver area in Canada, Richmond in particular has a substantial immigrant population, and most of them are Chinese. The people responsible for this deliberately went to a place where a lot of Chinese people live and stuck these horrible flyers in a bunch of mailboxes, and that pisses me off like nothing else.
It’s not fair of me to take it out on Americans, because these racists were always here. (Still feeling bitter, though.) A lot of Canadians are super fucking racist against Aboriginal peoples, for example. The thing is that these shitlords have been emboldened by Trump getting elected, and I hate that racists now feel safer about spewing this kind of garbage. I’m scared that Canada will end up with a Trump-a-like who’s even worse than Stephen Harper.
Also, hi. First time poster, long time lurker.
@authorialAlchemy
This is Jim Crow. This is god killing Jim Crow.
Oh gee I wonder how many women and lgbt’s will die because of a group of hateful zealots /s
Like this doesn’t have any pretence, it’s the “fuck you minorities” bill. It’s back to Reagan years.
If there was need that we are living in the darkest timeline, this thing isn’t helping people to think otherwise.
http://65.media.tumblr.com/38cdd16b33458c3a9589ca27dbc039fd/tumblr_inline_nxl60brjnl1tgtco0_500.gif
This has to be unconstitutional, and thanks to the House and Senate’s cockblocking Obama’s new judge, it’s likely not going to be deemed such with Donald Dump’s picks.
@Handsome “Punkle Stan” Jack
The cruel joke is that this is effectively implementing christian sharia.
I hope Trump doesn’t screw thing up so badly with Japan that they have to cancel the Kuratas VS Megabot match.
@Ooglyboggles
Ah, yes, it would, but they added the “moral conviction” thing, making it so it doesn’t have to do with religion at all, which means it technically doesn’t conflict with freedom of religion–in a sense. It’ll be used by religious people like a goddamn bat for sure.
But this can’t hold up, can it? We have so many anti-discrimination laws, we have constitutional amendments against this type of thing, right?
If this passes, I wonder if the wording is enough that people can discriminate right back, you know? “Oh, you don’t believe in gay marriage? No cake for you.” If enough people do it, you know, maybe it’ll get overturned? Because they can’t make it, like, overly discriminatory or else that’s definitely going against the rights of people and it can’t pass, right?
This is…such a scary time to be alive. There’s too much uncertain, too much at stake.
Oogly, honestly, I wish I could see a scenario in which that doesn’t happen. With shit like this first amendment defense act, and the large and growing Inane Clown Posse, well, people who are on the receiving end of this shit aren’t going to go down quietly. And whether or not they know it, Angry White Bigots are NOT the only people who have weapons. Understand, I’m not advocating it, and I’ve seen too much of places like Rwanda and Kosovo to have any illusions.