Every day is a new circus.

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Alate_One said:
The polls were wrong that time, but only on an extremely unlikely event. I wouldn't bet on polls always being wrong. They certainly weren't for the vast majority of elections in the last midterm.
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Actually, the polls were right. I followed them closely in the months leading up to the election. Clinton started out with a clear lead. As the months turned into weeks, the polls narrowed. A few days before the election, it was a toss-up. The polls got so close that I woke up on election day not sure who would win. As it was, Clinton won the popular vote while Trump won in the electoral college vote.

I wrote a post on this topic a few days ago, worth checking out:
Hillary Clinton can't rewrite history, but she'll try
 
annabenedetti

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Trump abandoning Kurdish partners in Syria sends a chilling message to every other American ally

U.S. troops are pulling out of Syria today, clearing the way for a Turkish attack on Kurdish forces who have been steadfast partners in the fight against the Islamic State. This withdrawal, which the Kurds are calling a betrayal, began just hours after Trump spoke by phone on Sunday with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Syrian Democratic Forces have been scaling back their defenses against a Turkish incursion recently at the behest of Americans trying to negotiate a settlement between the two sides. Now the SDF will be left to its own devices, as the massive Turkish army prepares for an imminent ground invasion.

Earlier this year, Trump promised that the United States “will devastate Turkey economically if they hit Kurds.” In August, Defense Secretary Mark Esper saidany solo action by the Turks against the Kurds would be “unacceptable.” Then, at 10:51 p.m. on Sunday night, White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham issued a brief statement undoing all of that: “Turkey will soon be moving forward with its long-planned operation into Northern Syria. The United States Armed Forces will not support or be involved in the operation, and United States forces, having defeated the ISIS territorial ‘Caliphate,’ will no longer be in the immediate area.”

. . . .

Last December, shortly after another call with Erdogan, Trump caught everyone off guard when he tweeted that the U.S. would withdraw all its troops from Syria. That prompted Jim Mattis to resign as secretary of defense and Brett McGurk to step down as Trump’s special envoy for the coalition to defeat the Islamic State. National security adviser John Bolton maneuvered behind the scenes, with help from the Pentagon and Foggy Bottom, to ensure that some U.S. presence inside Syria would remain to guard against the reemergence of ISIS. But, with Bolton gone, Trump is surrounded with more yes men than ever, and they’re less willing to push back against the president’s impulses.

McGurk, who now teaches at Stanford University, calls Trump’s latest move “a gift to Russia, Iran, and ISIS”: “He makes impulsive decisions with no knowledge or deliberation. He sends military personnel into harm’s way with no backing. He blusters and then leaves our allies exposed when adversaries call his bluff or he confronts a hard phone call,” McGurk said of his former boss. “There’s a similar defect at the core of US foreign policies across the board: maximalist objectives for a minimalist president combined with no process to assess facts, develop options, or prepare contingencies. Our personnel are left exposed at the slightest moment of friction.”

The former envoy, who also held senior roles in the George W. Bush administration, said last night’s White House statement “demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of anything happening on the ground.”
​


There's a lot more information at the link.
 
annabenedetti

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Lawrence O'Donnell
✔@Lawrence
I've been in a lot of presidential meetings in that room and I never saw anyone literally stand up to a president like that because no one ever had to.

Only Trump would tweet this perfect picture of his weakness & humiliation. @SpeakerPelosi finest moment. https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1184597281808498688 …

EHCI8Z5X4AEe67P

 
annabenedetti

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Day 1000: Trump unbound, unfiltered


A one-page letter from Trump to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sounded fake when it first surfaced on Twitter, but was real: "Let's work out a good deal! You don't want to be responsible for slaughtering thousands of people, and I don't want to be responsible for destroying the Turkish economy — and I will. ... Don't be a tough guy. Don't be a fool! I will call you later."

During a meeting with the congressional leadership in the Cabinet room, according to a senior Democratic aide who provided a readout, Trump said that Jim Mattis, a four-star Marine general and Trump's first defense secretary, was "the world's most overrated general. ... You know why? He wasn't tough enough. I captured ISIS. Mattis said it would take two years. I captured them in one month."

Pelosi told reporters in the White House driveway afterward: "What we witnessed on the part of the president was a meltdown — sad to say."

Trump tweeted: "Nancy Pelosi needs help fast! There is either something wrong with her 'upstairs,' or she just plain doesn’t like our great Country. She had a total meltdown in the White House today. It was very sad to watch. Pray for her, she is a very sick person!"

Trump had said in the Oval Office earlier about the withdrawal from Syria that endangered our longtime allies, the Kurds: "Syria may have some help with Russia, and that’s fine. It’s a lot of sand. They’ve got a lot of sand over there. So there’s a lot of sand that they can play with. But we were supposed to be there for 30 days; we stayed for 10 years. And it’s time for us to come home. ... The Kurds are much safer right now ... They’re not angels, if you take a look."

The House voted 354-60 to condemn Trump's decision to withdraw U.S. troops from northern Syria.
 
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The Barbarian said:
The polls were off by a bit over 1%.
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/e...s/general_election_trump_vs_clinton-5491.html

That's better than most elections. Trump got very, very lucky.
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Surely it wasn't luck that got Trump elected.

Clinton almost always had the lead in the popular vote, but polling state-by-state is less accurate due to the smaller sample size and there is always a margin of error which must always be considered. It was the margin of error that really had me worried.

I thought it was very telling when, on the day before the election, the Clinton campaign abruptly canceled a planned victory fireworks celebration over the Hudson River. It was as if they realized the news wasn't going to be good.
 
The Barbarian

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annabenedetti said:
Day 1000: Trump unbound, unfiltered


A one-page letter from Trump to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sounded fake when it first surfaced on Twitter, but was real: "Let's work out a good deal! You don't want to be responsible for slaughtering thousands of people, and I don't want to be responsible for destroying the Turkish economy — and I will. ... Don't be a tough guy. Don't be a fool! I will call you later."

During a meeting with the congressional leadership in the Cabinet room, according to a senior Democratic aide who provided a readout, Trump said that Jim Mattis, a four-star Marine general and Trump's first defense secretary, was "the world's most overrated general. ... You know why? He wasn't tough enough. I captured ISIS. Mattis said it would take two years. I captured them in one month."

Pelosi told reporters in the White House driveway afterward: "What we witnessed on the part of the president was a meltdown — sad to say."

Trump tweeted: "Nancy Pelosi needs help fast! There is either something wrong with her 'upstairs,' or she just plain doesn’t like our great Country. She had a total meltdown in the White House today. It was very sad to watch. Pray for her, she is a very sick person!"

Trump had said in the Oval Office earlier about the withdrawal from Syria that endangered our longtime allies, the Kurds: "Syria may have some help with Russia, and that’s fine. It’s a lot of sand. They’ve got a lot of sand over there. So there’s a lot of sand that they can play with. But we were supposed to be there for 30 days; we stayed for 10 years. And it’s time for us to come home. ... The Kurds are much safer right now ... They’re not angels, if you take a look."

The House voted 354-60 to condemn Trump's decision to withdraw U.S. troops from northern Syria.
Click to expand...

Is there a list of the 60 who put loyalty to Trump above loyalty to America?
 
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Alate_One said:
Could have picked plenty of places that wouldn't line Trump's own pockets. Not like there aren't plenty of different conference centers all over the country. :rolleyes:
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Trump has never been the type who would try to avoid the appearance of impropriety.
 
annabenedetti

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Alate_One said:
Apparently the G7 is going to be hosted at a Trump resort in Florida.

https://www.axios.com/g7-summit-trump-doral-resort-miami-a51f9f93-28cf-4df7-92f2-3fcce46e1879.html

Can anyone say Graft? Enriching oneself? Corruption?
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They don't care. That's one of the hardest things for me to accept, that so many of them don't care.

Still a few who do:

Our Republic Is Under Attack From the President
If President Trump doesn’t demonstrate the leadership that America needs, then it is time for a new person in the Oval Office.
By William H. McRaven
Admiral McRaven is a former commander of the United States Special Operations Command.



 
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annabenedetti said:
Lawrence O'Donnell
✔@Lawrence
I've been in a lot of presidential meetings in that room and I never saw anyone literally stand up to a president like that because no one ever had to.

Only Trump would tweet this perfect picture of his weakness & humiliation. @SpeakerPelosi finest moment. https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1184597281808498688 …

EHCI8Z5X4AEe67P

Click to expand...

Look at the faces of Trump's people. They are embarrassed for him. Pelosi owns him and they both know it.
 
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